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. 2008 Dec;8(6):753-65.
doi: 10.1037/a0014123.

Empathy across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal and experience-sampling findings

Daniel Grühn  1 , Kristine Rebucal, Manfred Diehl, Mark Lumley, Gisela Labouvie-Vief
Affiliations

Empathy across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal and experience-sampling findings

Daniel Grühn et al. Emotion. 2008 Dec.

Abstract

This study examined change in self-reported empathy in a four-wave longitudinal study spanning 12 years (1992-2004) and the association between empathy and other measures, including daily reports of relationship experiences. Participants initially ranged in age from 10 years to 87 years. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of age with empathy revealed divergent patterns. Whereas cross-sectional analyses suggested that older adults scored lower in empathy than younger adults, longitudinal analyses showed no age-related decline in empathy. This combined pattern suggests that the cross-sectional age-differences reflect a cohort rather than an age effect, with older cohorts reporting lower levels of empathy than younger ones. Independent of age, empathy was associated with a positive well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) and interaction profile (e.g., positive relations with others). In addition, a subsample of participants (n = 114) conducted experience-sampling about social interactions for a week. People with high self-reported empathy perceived their interactions as more meaningful, felt more positive in these interactions, and thought that their interaction partner felt also more positive. Thus, self-reported empathy was meaningfully associated with adults' actual social interactions.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Latent growth curve model with participants’ age as predictor for intercept and slope over the 12-year period.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Individual developmental trajectories of empathy over the 12-year period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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