Promoting Empathy in Adolescents

We examine whether story exchanges (where students take turns presenting a partner’s story in the first person) increase empathic feelings and self-other overlap among adolescents. Students ages 13-16 years (n = 175) from a New York City public school completed measures (including self-report empathy and self-other overlap) before undergoing story exchanges in small groups, immediately after, and after a delay. Students who underwent this brief, low-cost, one-time intervention showed boosts in empathy immediately afterward. Lower baseline empathy students increased and maintained empathy gains, particularly if they believed empathy was malleable. All students perceived a greater degree of self-other overlap with their partner, both immediately after and at delay. Participation-based factors (such as story meaningfulness) did not predict empathy changes, suggesting the format, rather than the content, of story exchanges is most central. This preliminary examination of story exchange shows potential for promoting empathy and feelings of closeness among adolescents in schools.