U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Differences in Empathy Between Offender and Nonoffender Youth

NCJ Number
184359
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: August 2000 Pages: 467-478
Author(s)
Connee A. Bush Ph.D.; Ronald L. Mullis Ph.D.; Ann K. Mullis Ph.D.
Editor(s)
Daniel Offer
Date Published
August 2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The purpose of this study was to examine differences in empathy between offender and non-offender youth using a sample of 76 male and 33 female juvenile offenders between 12 and 18 years of age as well as 33 male and 33 female non-offenders between 15 and 19 years of age in Florida.
Abstract
Measures of empathy, altruism, and social support were administered to all participants; the participants were then analyzed for status group differences. Only one dimension of empathy, emotional tone, was found to be significantly different based on group status. Gender differences were found for both status groups for another dimension of empathy, personal distress. Among offender and non-offender youth, females yielded higher scores in personal distress than males. Emotional tone and family structure were found to be the most predictive variables of offender status. Findings are discussed based on previous research, and implications of the findings for interventions are addressed. 27 references and 3 tables