Cognitive and Affective Empathy and Its Relationship to Proactive and Reactive Aggression in Vietnamese Adolescents

• Published in: European journal of contemporary education 2021, Vol.10 (3), p.583
• Main Authors: Bui, Huyen Thu Thi, Jolliffe, Darrick, Hoang, Phuoc Anh, Nguyen, Hong Thanh Thi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Aggression; Behavior Problems; Correlation; Empathy; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Measures (Individuals); Prediction; Prosocial Behavior; Role of Education; Scores; Secondary School Students; Self Control; Student Attitudes; Vietnamese People
• ISSN: 2304-9650; 2305-6746; 2305-6746
• DOI: 10.13187/ejced.2021.3.583

While aggression is considered as one of the most common behavior problems among adolescents, empathy can be a predictor of prosocial behaviors and underlines different implications for aggression in children. Empirical studies had proved that there was a negative correlation between empathy and aggression in children and adolescents. Nevertheless, the vast majority of studies on the relationship between aggression and empathy has been well documented in the literature with Western samples. The current study aims to examine the aggression-empathy association in Vietnamese adolescents and to explore whether or not aggression can be predicted by empathy and self-control. A total of 1,236 adolescents aged 12-13 years from 3 regions of Vietnam were asked to answer the survey package including the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, the Basic Empathy Scale and the Self-Control Questionnaire. Findings revealed that there was a statistically significant difference in aggression and empathy scores for gender, in which female adolescents showed a higher level of aggression and empathy than that of male ones. There was a strong negative relationship between aggression and empathy. Aggression can be predicted by empathy and self-control. Of the two variables, empathy was a better predictor of aggression (beta = -0.42) than self-control (beta = -0.37). The results add more valuable evidence to the existing literature on the relationship between aggression and empathy in a diverse population, and proved the role of education in enhancing empathy for adolescents in general and those with high levels of aggression in particular in school settings.