The Role of Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Physical, Verbal, and Indirect Aggression of a Singaporean Sample of Boys

Effects of empathy on the bidirectional relationships between problematic smartphone use and aggression among secondary school students: a moderated network approach

Background

Existing literature on the relationship between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and aggression has primarily focused on examining their unidirectional association, with limited attention paid to the bidirectional nature of this relationship, particularly when considering the role of empathy. This study employs a novel moderated network approach to examine the bidirectional relationship between problematic smartphone use and aggression, while also investigating the moderating mechanism of empathy.

Methods

A total of 2,469 students (49.1% female, Mean age = 13.83, SD age = 1.48) from 35 junior and senior high schools in Harbin, China, participated in this study. Empathy level, aggressiveness, and PSU symptoms were assessed using the Basic Empathy Scale, the Buss-Warren Aggression Questionnaire, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Index.

Results

Analysis revealed that the relationship between PSU and aggression was complex and bidirectional. The strongest association was observed between "hostility" and "withdrawal/escape". In addition, "anger" had the highest Expected Influence (EI) in both affective and cognitive moderate network models. An important discovery was also made regarding the conditional effect of "productive loss" and "physical aggression" across different levels of affective empathy. Specifically, at lower levels of affective empathy, a positive bidirectional relationship was found between "productive loss" and "physical aggression". However, this relationship turned negative and bidirectional at higher levels of affective empathy.

Conclusion

The findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the complex dynamics between PSU and aggression and highlight the need for targeted interventions that promote affective empathy to mitigate the negative consequences of excessive smartphone use.

Explaining the Insufficient Relationship between Affective Empathy and Physical Aggression Based on a Double-edged Sword Model

Affective empathy is generally considered an important inhibitor of aggression. However, the meta-analysis studies on the relationship between affective empathy and aggression have challenged this common-sense view and found no substantial correlation between the two variables. We proposed a double-edged sword model to explain this counterintuitive phenomenon and tested this model by establishing an inconsistent mediation model. A total of 663 college students in China (59.1% female; Mage = 20.69 years) completed questionnaires measuring affective empathy, sympathy, personal distress, anger proneness, and physical aggression. The results showed that on the one hand, affective empathy can indirectly inhibit physical aggression by increasing sympathy; on the other hand, affective empathy can indirectly promote physical aggression through the serial mediation of personal distress and anger proneness. Such two pathways offset each other, leading to an insignificant relation observation between affective empathy and physical aggression. The findings revealed the complexity of the relationship between affective empathy and aggression, which suggested that more efforts to reduce aggression should be made to develop individuals' sympathy, while affective empathy training should be moderate to avoid excessive empathic emotional arousal.

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Dyadic Empathy, and Intimate Partner Violence Among Men Seeking Psychological Help

Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and intimate partner violence (IPV) have both been associated with numerous negative repercussions. The first aim of this study is to understand IPV perpetrated by men within a clinical population, by examining the effects of two potential predictors: CSA and dyadic empathy (cognitive and emotional). The second aim of this study is to explore whether dyadic empathy is an intermediary variable of the association between CSA and IPV. A sample of 198 men (aged 18-69 years old) who were seeking help for relationship problems, completed a set of self-administered questionnaires. While controlling for social desirability and family violence history, our findings outlined the mediating and moderating role of dyadic empathy in the link between CSA and perpetrated psychological, but not physical, IPV. Emotional empathy mediated and moderated the link between CSA and psychological IPV, whereas cognitive empathy only moderated this link. The examination of the direct links between the variables also revealed that CSA was related to lower emotional empathy and higher rates of both types of IPV. In addition, cognitive empathy was negatively associated with physical and psychological IPV, whereas emotional empathy was positively associated with psychological IPV. This study contributes to the literature by documenting some of the mechanisms that could explain the perpetration of IPV and highlights the importance of investigating CSA and empathy in men who are seeking help.

Predicting youth aggression with empathy and callous unemotional traits: A Meta-analytic review

Historically, empathy has been thought to motivate prosocial behaviour and inhibit aggressive behaviour. Contrary to current assumptions and theoretical support, a meta-analysis revealed a small effect of empathy on aggression among adults (Vachon, Lynam, & Johnson, 2014). The current study sought to determine whether broadening the focus from empathy to include other socially relevant affective characteristics (i.e., callous-unemotional traits) was advantageous in predicting aggressive behaviour. As little is known about the strength of this association among youth, the current study meta-analytically examined 192 unique effect sizes drawn from published and unpublished studies reporting on samples of children and adolescents. Analyses were conducted across general, cognitive, and emotional empathy, as well as callous-unemotional traits, and general, direct, indirect, proactive, and reactive aggression. Significant variability was noted across effect sizes. Consistent with a prior meta-analysis involving adults (Vachon et al., 2014), small to moderate associations were identified between aggression and traditional measures of empathy (i.e., general, emotional, cognitive); these effects ranged from r = -0.06 to -0.26. Among broader measures of emotional style (i.e., callous-unemotional traits), moderate to large effects were found; ranging from r = 0.30 to 0.37. Results suggested that broader affective measures may be more strongly associated with aggression than empathy alone. The results raise questions about the nature of empathy assessment and indicate the utility of targeting multiple emotion-related factors during treatment to effectively reduce aggressive behaviour. In particular, the results underscore of the importance of considering the limited prosocial emotions specifier (perhaps trans-diagnostically given the varied nature of the sample) when considering implications for prognosis and treatment targets.

Are all types of empathy associated with lower aggression in athletes? A cross-sectional study on Iranian athletes

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate the association between cognitive and affective empathy and aggression in a sample of Iranian athletes.

METHODS

We designed a cross-sectional study. The participants were selected by multistage random sampling among six colleges in Tehran, Iran's capital. We used the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) to evaluate empathy, and Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, and the Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire to evaluate aggression.

RESULTS

In total, 492 athletes with a mean age of 27.42 years (SD = 7.72) participated in the study, of which 298 (60.6%) were male, and 194 (39.4%) were female. IRI's fantasy and personal distress subscales scores were positively associated with proactive and reactive aggression scores (p < 0.05). The score of the perspective-taking subscale of IRI was negatively associated with proactive and reactive aggression scores (p < 0.05). The score of the empathic concern subscale of IRI had a negative association with the proactive aggression score (p < 0.001). The score of the perspective-taking subscale of IRI had negative associations with all Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire subscales' scores (p < 0.05). The score of the personal distress subscale of IRI had positive associations with all Buss-Perry aggression questionnaire subscales' scores (p < 0.05), except with the verbal aggression subscale score. The score of the fantasy subscale of IRI was positively associated with the score of the hostility subscale of the Buss-Perry questionnaire (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Perspective-taking is negatively associated with all kinds of aggression in athletes. Future studies can be conducted to determine the possible role of perspective-taking in preventive aggression, which can be a target for interventions. On the other hand, the score of the personal distress subscale of IRI is positively associated with all types of aggression scores, indicating that not all types of empathy inhibit aggression in athletes.

The representation of bullying in Italian primary school children: A mixed-method study comparing drawing and interview data and their association with self-report involvement in bullying events

Bullying continues to be a social issue affecting millions of students of all ages worldwide. Research on bullying seems to be dominated by quantitative research approaches employed standardized categories and measures, ultimately limiting our knowledge about children’s own view on bullying. Our research follows another direction, aiming to explore the representation of bullying in a sample of Italian primary school children by using and comparing the functioning of two qualitative research instruments: interviews, and children’s drawings. In addition, aided by quantitative analyses, we aimed to investigate whether students’ involvement in different bullying roles (as bullies, victims, or defenders), as measured by self-assessment, correlated with different characteristics of the representation of bullying emerging from children’s drawings and interviews. We recruited a convenient sample of 640 primary school students (mean age = 9.44; SD = 0.67), 53.3% of whom were male. The results showed that all forms of bullying, i.e., physical, verbal, and social bullying, could be identified in interview and drawing data, although references to all types of bullying were more frequent in interview data. In terms of bullying criteria, the presence of a power imbalance between the bully and the victim was most frequently detected in both the interview data and the drawing data, while repetition was more easily detected in the interview data. The interview data showed that sadness was the most frequently reported victim emotions, followed by fear, anger, and lack of emotion. The drawing data showed a similar pattern, although victims were more frequently described as lacking emotions compared to the interview data. In both interview and drawing data, age and female gender were positively associated with references to verbal bullying, and negatively associated with references to physical bullying. Additionally, bully/victim children were more likely than uninvolved children to depict physical bullying in the drawings, while this association was not detected in interview data. In summary, our study shows that, compared with drawings, interviews tend to provide a more comprehensive view of children’s own representation of bullying, while drawing data tend to show stronger connections with children’s current personal experiences of bullying.

The role of empathy and social anxiety in Latinx adolescents' indirect peer aggression during the transition to high school

The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between decreased empathy (i.e., cognitive and affective) and indirect and cyber peer aggression among Latinx adolescents during their transition to high school. Further, we examined the degree to which social anxiety moderated this relationship. Participants were 469 Latinx ninth graders, ages 13-17 years (M = 14.52, SD = 0.58; 58% girls). Adolescents completed the Revised Peer Experiences Questionnaire, Cyber Peer Experiences Questionnaire, Basic Empathy Scale, and Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents at two different time points, 3 months apart. Hierarchical linear regression analyses revealed concurrent and prospective relationships between lower cognitive empathy and the perpetration of both indirect and cyber aggression. In addition, social anxiety moderated the concurrent associations between both types of empathy and both types of aggression perpetration. Results suggest that interventions that facilitate cognitive empathy and decrease social anxiety may help to reduce adolescents' indirect and cyber aggression toward peers throughout the high school transition.

Are Emotion Regulation Strategies Different among 3-6-Year-Old Aggressive Children? Evidence from China

Background

During the long-time home quarantine due to COVID-19, preschool-age children can be easily stricken by negative emotions, which give rise to aggressive behaviors. Aggressive behaviors are of different types at the preschool stage. We aimed to investigate the differences of emotion regulation strategies among children age 3-6 yr old with different aggression types and explore the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and aggressive behaviors.

Methods

The aggressive behaviors of 1,187 children sampled (event sampling method) from 5 kindergartens in five cities in Henan Province of China were observed on the spot in 2020. Three aggression types (i.e., physical, verbal, and indirect) were selected to conduct a questionnaire survey on emotion regulation strategies and discuss the differences among aggressive children in emotion regulation strategies.

Results

Children of different genders are significantly different in aggressive behaviors and problem solving, as well as children at different age levels in self-comfort, passive reaction, and negative regulation strategies. Significant interaction exists between gender and aggression but not in negative regulation strategy; significant interaction also exists between age and aggression but not in cognitive reconstruction, substitutive activity, and aggressive behavior. Significant differences exist among children of different aggression types in positive and negative regulation strategies. The discrimination accuracy of emotion regulation strategies for aggression types is 66.5%.

Conclusion

Significant differences exist among 3-6-yr-old aggressive children in emotion regulation strategies, and emotion regulation strategies can effectively distinguish aggressive children of different types.

A relationship between personality and empathy in teenagers' school sports club participation

This study aims to identify the relation between students’ participation in sports club activities and personality and sympathy based on the findings obtained from personalty and sympathy study and understand what the interrelational characteristics are. This study investigated a total of 408 individuals (male, 58.3%; female, 41.7%) who have continuously participated in sports club activity in middle schools located at Seoul and Gyeonggi province, Korea. To look at the type of event that they selected, 127 individuals (31.1%) reported that “School sports club event is already defined in school.” and 281 (68.9%) reported that “We can select among several school sports club events.” The events that they participated in are that 79 individuals participated in basket ball, 47 in line dancing, 96 in badminton, 2 in yoga, 31 in football, 129 in pingpong, and 20 in floorball. In conclusion adolescence is a period that adolescents are physically and mentally developed in terms of personality, morality, creativity, and sociality. During this period, learning and experience are very important for lifetime. Therefore, teenagers’ school sports club activity can contribute to fostering positive and desirable personality and stabilizing emotional empathy among student participants. This study identified the relation between personality and empathy in adolescents, which was not studied before. As presented in previous researches, it can be found that positive personality can be cultivated by teenagers’ communal activities in school life. The link to connect this with empathy factor is considered to be the very communal activity, sports.

The Basic Empathy Scale adapted to French middle childhood: Structure and development of empathy

We adapted the adult French version of the Basic Empathy Scale to French children aged 6-11 years, in order to probe the factorial structure underlying empathy. A total of 410 children (189 girls and 221 boys) were instructed to fill out the resulting Basic Empathy Scale in Children (BES-C). Results showed that, as in adulthood, the three-factor model of empathy (i.e., emotional contagion, cognitive empathy, and emotional disconnection) was more relevant than the one- and two-factor ones. This means that as early as 6 years of age, children's responses should reflect the same organization of the three components of empathy as those of adults. In line with the literature, cognitive empathy increased and emotional disconnection decreased in middle childhood, while emotional contagion remained stable. Moreover, girls exhibited greater emotional contagion than boys, with the reverse pattern being observed for emotional disconnection. No sex difference was found regarding cognitive empathy.

Moral Disengagement as Mediator and Moderator of the Relation Between Empathy and Aggression Among Chinese Male Juvenile Delinquents

The link between empathy and aggression is well documented; yet, studies examining potential mechanisms that explain this association are limited. In the present study, we tested the relation between empathy and aggression and examined both the mediating and moderating effects of moral disengagement on this relation among Chinese male juvenile delinquents. Three hundred and fifty-seven male juvenile delinquents from one Chinese juvenile correctional facility completed the interpersonal reactivity index, the moral disengagement scale and the aggression questionnaire. The results indicated that moral disengagement partially mediated the influence of empathy on aggression. Moreover, moral disengagement moderated the relation between empathy and aggression. Specifically, there was a significant negative relation between empathy and aggression at low levels of moral disengagement. However, at high levels of moral disengagement, the relation between empathy and aggression was non-significant. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.

Bystanders' responses to offline bullying and cyberbullying: The role of empathy and normative beliefs about aggression

Cyberbullying often takes place with the virtual presence or knowledge of bystanders. While we have some evidence about the determinants of bystanders' responses to offline bullying, we lack empirical studies concerning the variables that influence bystanders' responses to cyberbullying. The current study examines bystanders' responses to offline bullying and cyberbullying incidents. Two types of responses were captured: support toward the victims and the reinforcement of bullies' actions. Using data from 321 German adolescents (ages 12-18; M = 14.99; 44% girls), the association between bystanders' responses and normative beliefs about verbal aggression and cyberaggression, and affective and cognitive empathy, were tested in a path model. Both types of normative beliefs positively predicted the reinforcement of bullies, and normative belief about verbal aggression also predicted support for the victims of offline bullying. Both types of empathy predicted support in offline bullying, but only affective empathy predicted support in cyberbullying. There was no link between affective or cognitive empathy to the reinforcement of bullies. Moreover, bystanders' tendencies to respond supportively to the victim or to reinforce the bully were rather consistent in both cyber- and offline bullying, but there was no link between support and reinforcement. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for prevention and intervention efforts.

Empathy and peer violence among adolescents: Moderation effect of gender

The study examined the relationships between empathy and peer violence among adolescents, along with gender as a moderator in these associations. Thereby, multidimensionality of empathy (affective and cognitive empathy) and different forms of violence (physical, verbal, and relational) were considered. The participants were 646 high school students (aged 15- to 19-years-old) from Serbia. The findings revealed that only the cognitive dimension of empathy was related to violence, namely to physical and relational violence, while relations between the empathy dimensions and verbal violence were not significant. Gender moderated only the relation between cognitive empathy and physical violence, in a way that there was significant negative relation only among boys. Cognitive empathy was negatively related to relational violence, regardless of gender. The results are discussed in the context of the characteristics of violent interactions among adolescents, and recommendations are given for violence prevention programs in high schools.