The development of empathy in child maltreatment contexts

BACKGROUND: Despite robust associations between child maltreatment experiences and emotional development, a paucity of research examines the influence of child maltreatment on empathy development, and still fewer studies differentiate these effects across maltreatment subtypes. OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the development of children's empathy from ages six to eight, as predicted by maltreatment, and as moderated by children's attachment representations. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants were a community sample of 250 children followed longitudinally and assessed in a laboratory setting with their primary caregivers. METHOD: Child maltreatment experiences from birth to age six were assessed by semi-structured interviews with caregivers, which were rated according to widely-used child maltreatment coding protocols, and by caregiver and child self-report measures. Child empathy was assessed at ages six and eight by caregiver-report. Attachment representations were observed in children using the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. RESULTS: Child emotional abuse (β = -0.150, p = .012) and child neglect (β = -0.137, p = .016) predicted decreased empathy at age eight, whereas child physical abuse (β = 0.132, p = .027) and child exposure to domestic violence (β = 0.164, p = .004) predicted increased empathy at age eight. Further, children's negative representations of mother figures moderated the positive association between child physical abuse and empathy (β = -0.177, p = .005), such that the association became weaker as negative representations increased. CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the nuanced ways in which child maltreatment experiences of different subtypes contribute to the development of empathy in school-aged children.