Empathy and responses to self-effacing empathy training within adolescent-parent dyads

Abstract

PURPOSE : This study investigated empathy as a relational and developmental phenomenon by comparing adolescents and their parents for baseline empathy and their responses to a structured conjoint 8-week self-effacing empathy training (SEET) program. No prior reports have contributed quantitatively to the understanding of empathy within this specific generational pairing. METHODS : Data from 112 research participants, comprising 56 adolescent–parent dyads, were sourced from a randomized blinded placebo-controlled parallel group study on the efficacy of SEET. As measured on the Self-Effacing Empathy Scale (SEES), the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and the four subscales of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), adolescents and their parents were compared statistically for empathy and the extent of change in response to SEET. RESULTS : At baseline, the adolescents scored significantly higher than their parents on the BES (MWU = 1,916; p = .041) and 55.4% of adolescents scored higher on the SEES but the latter was not statistically significantly (MWU = 1,758.5; p = .266). While both adolescents and parents showed increased empathy on all the measures, increases in self-effacing empathy were significantly higher in adolescents (MWU = 548.5; p = .01). Whether being an adolescent or a parent contributed significantly to the effect of the training on their self-effacing empathy (β = .20; p = .007) (accounting for 7.3% of the variance), but not so for the other measures of empathy. DISCUSSION : Adolescents appeared to be more empathic and responsive to SEET than their parents, notwithstanding that their parents responded in tandem while participating interactively in SEET.