The superiority of high level of father presence on empathy and sympathy in early adolescents in south-eastern China: A person-centered perspective

作者：Ying, Peng-Xing; Li, Hang; Tan, Jun-Wen^*

来源：Personality and Individual Differences, 2021, 181: 111048.

DOI：10.1016/j.paid.2021.111048

• Father presence
• Empathy
• Sympathy
• Potential profile analysis
• Chinese adolescents
• Person-centered perspective

Father presence plays a vital role in psychological development of adolescents in various ways. In the current study, to investigate the effect of father presence on empathy and sympathy, the questionnaires were administered to 3197 primary and middle school students (M-age = 13.28, SD = 1.48). We used Mplus 7.4 to conduct latent profile analysis to identify potential profiles of father presence among boys and girls. In addition, ANOVAs were conducted to reveal the differences among profiles on empathy and sympathy. Results showed that both male and female groups had four potential profiles (Low, Moderate, High father presence and Balanced type), and these profiles shared a similar pattern and characteristics among different genders. Moreover, "High father presence" showed a particular advantage in cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and sympathy over the moderate and low counterparts. The "Balanced type" showed the most significant advantage in affective empathy, which brings enlightenment to improving the consistency among various father presence factors.

• 单位
  广东医学院