Are Women More Empathetic than Men? A Longitudinal Study in Adolescence

Abstract

Since the 1970s there has been a growing interest in analysing sex differences in psychological variables. Empirical studies and meta-analyses have contributed evidence on the differences between male and female individuals. More recently, the gender similarities hypothesis has supported the similarity of men and women in most psychological variables. This study contributes information on women's greater empathic disposition in comparison with men by means of a longitudinal design in an adolescent population. 505 male and female adolescents aged between 13 and 16 years were evaluated at two different moments (grade 2 and grade 3, lower secondary education). They completed the Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents by Bryant and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index by Davis. The results confirm a greater empathic response in females than in males of the same age, differences growing with age. The sizes of the effect estimated in the second evaluation (average age 14 years) are large for emotional empathy and medium for cognitive empathy. Keywords: empathy, gender differences, adolescence Desde la década de los 70 se incrementa el interés por analizar las diferencias de género en las variables psicológicas y se publican estudios empíricos y trabajos de meta-análisis que aportan evidencia de las diferencias entre varones y mujeres. Más recientemente se ha planteado la hipótesis de la similitud de género que defiende la semejanza entre varones y mujeres en la mayoría de los constructos psicológicos. Este estudio aporta datos sobre la mayor disposición empática en la mujer respecto al varón a través de un diseño longitudinal en población adolescente. 505 adolescentes varones y mujeres, con un rango de edad entre 13 y 16 años fueron evaluados en dos momentos temporales (2º y 3º curso de ESO). Cumplimentaron el Índice de Empatía de Bryant y el Índice de Reactividad Interpersonal de Davis. Los resultados confirman mayor respuesta empática en las adolescentes respecto a los varones de su misma edad y constatan que dichas diferencias aumentan con la edad. Los tamaños del efecto estimados en el segundo momento (edad media 14 años) son grandes en la empatía emocional y medios en la cognitiva.

Personal and Contextual Factors Related to Internalizing Problems During Adolescence

“…It is essential to point out that although the parenting variables contributed significantly to explaining the variance for internalizing problems in girls and boys, the explained variance was much higher among the girls, probably because they showed higher scores for empathy, which coincides with the results of other studies (Mestre, Samper, Frías, and Tur, 2009). This higher empathy places girls in a more vulnerable position when faced with the parental psychological control.…”

Empathy Gender in Dental Students in Latin America: An Exploratory and Cross-Sectional Study

“…Those differences were attributed to the gender role stereotypes. Other studies have supported those conclusions [24]- [26], but using different measurement tools. Fernández-Pinto et al [27], suggested two possible generalizations of these results: 1) that the empathy seems to be connected to individual differences, such as personality and gender differences, and 2) the results of the research made seem insufficient to come to a conclusion about the interrelationships named, since the results come from the measurement of empathy using different tools and, therefore, underlie different concepts of conceptualizations of the empathy behind each one of the measurement types.…”

Adolescents' Media Exposure May Increase Their Cyberbullying Behavior: A Longitudinal Study

“…Perhaps, boys and girls differ in how they cope with unpleasant feelings related to cyberbullying which differentiates their behavioral response in the longer run. The generally higher levels of empathy in girls may, for example, prevent them from further increases compared with boys [34]. Future research is warranted here.…”