Delinquent adolescents' empathy

Abstract

Taking into account the findings of the negative correlation of empathy and delinquent behavior in adolescence, as well as the results of studies that show that the nature of this relationship varies depending on the components of empathy, a survey was conducted with the aim to determine whether delinquent adolescents differ from their peers in empathy, or whether there are statistically significant differences in the level of cognitive and affective components of empathy between these groups. The sample consisted of 120 male adolescents, divided into two groups. The first group consisted of young offenders who, at the time of the research, were located in the Correctional Home for Juveniles in Krusevac serving the educational measure of committal to an educational-correctional institution, while the other was a control group consisting of students of secondary vocational schools in Belgrade who did not have a history of delinquent behavior in terms of frequency, duration, and seriousness. Basic Empathy Scale was used for the assessment (BES; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006). The obtained results confirm the general assumption that delinquent adolescents are less empathetic than their peers in secondary schools. On the total empathy scale delinquents generated statistically significantly lower scores than their peers, wherein the differences were also retained by controlling the age of subjects. When we look at the components of empathy, the results indicate that delinquent adolescents have lower cognitive, but not affective empathy than their peers. On the basis of previously obtained results practical implications for intervention planning of treatment and prevention of delinquency were derived.