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. 2004 Nov;40(6):911-26.
doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.911.

Prediction of children's empathy-related responding from their effortful control and parents' expressivity

Carlos Valiente  1 , Nancy Eisenberg, Richard A Fabes, Stephanie A Shepard, Amanda Cumberland, Sandra H Losoya
Affiliations

Prediction of children's empathy-related responding from their effortful control and parents' expressivity

Carlos Valiente et al. Dev Psychol. 2004 Nov.

Abstract

In this study, the linear and interactive relations of children's effortful control and parents' emotional expressivity to children's empathy-related responses were examined. Participants were 214 children, 4.5 to 8 years old. Children's effortful control was negatively related to their personal distress and was positively related to their sympathy. Parents' positive expressivity was marginally negatively related to children's personal distress and was marginally positively related to children's dispositional sympathy. Parents' negative expressivity was positively related to children's personal distress, but primarily at high levels of children's effortful control. Moreover, parents' negative expressivity was negatively related to children's situational sympathy at low levels of effortful control but was positively related to children's dispositional sympathy at high levels of effortful control. There were also quadratic relations between the measures of parents' expressivity and children's empathy-related responses.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Heuristic model.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The quadratic relations between parents’ negative and positive expressivity and children’s situational sympathy (the data points are all negative because situational sympathy was transformed; M = −1.38, minimum = −2.00, maximum = −1.00, SD = 0.28).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The quadratic relations between parents’ negative and positive expressivity and children’s personal distress.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The interaction of parents’ negative expressivity and children’s effortful control when predicting children’s personal distress. *p < .05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The interaction of parents’ negative expressivity and children’s effortful control when predicting children’s situational sympathy (the data points are all negative because situational sympathy was transformed; M = −1.38, minimum = −2.00, maximum = −1.00, SD = 0.28). *p < .05.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The interaction of parents’ negative expressivity and children’s effortful control when predicting children’s dispositional sympathy. +p < .10.
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