Toward Generalized Concern: The Development of Compassion and Links to Kind Orientations

Compassion underlies kindness and as such, is important for creating harmonious societies. We examined children and adolescents’ personal experiences of compassion and then how youth with different compassion profiles differed in their kindness (i.e., dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior)....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of adolescent research 2022-11, Vol.37 (6), p.776-804
Main Authors: Peplak, Joanna, Malti, Tina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
Altruism
Caregivers
Girls
Helping behavior
Helping Relationship
Mixed methods research
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Narratives
Peers
Personal experiences
Prosocial behavior
Suffering
Sympathy
Youth
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Summary:Compassion underlies kindness and as such, is important for creating harmonious societies. We examined children and adolescents’ personal experiences of compassion and then how youth with different compassion profiles differed in their kindness (i.e., dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior). An ethnically diverse sample of 8-, 11-, and 15-year-olds (N = 32; 66% girls) provided narratives of times they felt compassion. Next, in another diverse sample of 7-, 11-, and 15-year-olds (N = 168; 49% girls), we assessed youths’ potential for global compassion (i.e., compassion that transcends intergroup boundaries) using a novel interview procedure. We also collected self- and caregiver-reports of dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior. Youths’ narratives revealed that youth often experienced compassion toward peers and relatives following both physical and psychological sufferance and often mentioned responding to the suffering other with helping behavior. On average, youth reported moderate levels of global compassion (i.e., compassion toward a suffering victimizer) and developmental trends revealed that 15-year-olds reported lower feelings of compassion than 11-year-olds. Next, latent profile analysis showed that compassion-oriented youth (i.e., youth who displayed moderate-high levels of global compassion) were rated as more prosocial than non-compassion-oriented youth (i.e., those who displayed low levels of global compassion). We discuss findings in relation to theory and research on the development of kindness in general and in intergroup contexts.
ISSN:0743-5584
1552-6895
DOI:10.1177/07435584211007840