Abstract

MACHADO, Bruna Mattos; VIEIRA, Breno Sanvicente  and  MARIN, Angela Helena. Empathy and child emotional and behavioral problems. Est. Inter. Psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.12, n.3, pp. 119-136. ISSN 2236-6407.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5433/2236-6407.2021v12n3p119.

Empathy is an emotional response that resembles the emotion felt by the other. Low empathy impact social relationships, correlating with emotional and behavioral problems. The present study aimed to compare groups of children with and without clinical tests of internal and external problems and syndromic scales related to empathy. 106 children enrolled from first to third degrees of elementary school participated. They answered a scale about empathy; their caregivers completed the Sociodemographic Data Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist - CBCL. Comparison tests (t-student and Mann-Whitney) indicate that children with external problems have a higher average of global empathy and concern for others (affective empathy). Children with conduct problems exhibited higher levels of emotional involvement (affective empathy), as well as the children with internal problems. Results suggests that high levels of affective empathy may increase vulnerability to the development of emotional and behavioral problems in this period of child development.

Keywords : empathy; externalizing problems; internalizing problems; child development.

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