The Influence of Maternal Empathetic Parenting Attitude on Children's Empathy: The Mediating Effects of Attachment and Emotional Regulation
AUTHOR : 박찬영, 임정하
INFORMATION : page. 15~29 / 2025 Vol.32 No.1
ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine how maternal empathetic parenting attitudes influence children’s empathy through the mediating roles of attachment to their mothers and emotional regulation. The study was grounded in Stern and Cassidy’s (2018) attachment theoretical model of individual differences in empathy. Participants included 300 pairs of 5th and 6th grade elementary school children and their mothers from a metropolitan area in South Korea. Data were collected using paper-based self-report questionnaires and analyzed through t-tests, Cohen's d, Pearson's correlation analyses, and Model 6 of the PROCESS macro. The findings revealed significant gender differences in emotional regulation of others and empathy, with girls demonstrating higher levels than boys. Maternal empathetic parenting attitudes were found to influence girls' and boys' empathy through a statistically significant serial mediation process involving attachment and emotional regulation. For girls, both the indirect effects of attachment and emotional regulation were significant, while for boys, only the indirect effect of attachment reached significance. These results provide valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to foster empathy in children, with particular attention to gender-related factors.