title: The family origins of empathic concern: a 26-year longitudinal study.
abstract: This study examined whether adult empathic concern was associated with parent behavior in early childhood. Subjects were drawn from a longitudinal sample first investigated by Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957). At age 31, 75 subjects completed the Adjective Checklist (Gough & Heilbrun, 1965, 1983), from which an index of empathic concern was derived. Scores on this index were regressed on 11 parenting dimensions derived from maternal interviews when the subjects were 5 years old. The results revealed a significant multiple R indicating that, taken together, the parenting dimensions predicted the level of empathic concern at age 31. Adult levels of empathic concern were most strongly related to the following parenting dimensions: paternal involvement in child care, maternal tolerance of dependent behavior, maternal inhibition of child's aggression, and maternal satisfaction with the role of mother.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koestner
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weinberger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D010556:Personality Tests