Identifying the Change Trajectories of Empathy in Middle School Students and Examining the Effects of Parent and Peer Attachment
AUTHOR : 김균희, 홍예지
INFORMATION : page. 29~42 / 2026 Vol.33 No.3
ABSTRACT
This study aims to identify the longitudinal changes in empathy of adolescents, examining their relation to parent and peer attachment. To this end, 1,194 middle school students were selected in the data from the 14th to 16th waves of the Panel Study on Korean Children, and a growth mixture model was conducted using SPSS 29.0 and Mplus 8.7. The results are summarized as follows. First, the linear model was suitable for longitudinal changes in adolescents’ empathy and the change patterns were classified into three latent profiles: high-level slowly decreasing, mid-level steady, and mid-level rapidly decreasing. Second, adolescents who reported higher levels of communication with their fathers and greater trust were more likely to belong to the mid-level steady group than the high-level slowly decreasing group. In contrast, those with higher levels of communication with their mothers were more likely to belong to the high-level slowly decreasing group than the mid-level rapidly decreasing group. Furthermore, adolescents experiencing greater peer alienation were more likely to belong to the high-level slowly decreasing or the mid-level rapid decreasing group than the mid-level steady group. These findings suggest the need for differentiated support tailored to middle school students’ empathy trajectories and highlight the importance of considering both parent and peer attachment in understanding their empathy development.