The Impact of Early Experiences on Empathy Development: Markers of Vulnerability and Resilience, 2020-2021

Empathy develops in the context of close relationships. Children observe their parents’ emotional responses to others and listen to their parents explain emotions and associated behaviours. It follows that the experience of maltreatment interferes with typical empathy development because sensitive caregiving is compromised. This study aims to explore the influence of maltreatment and subsequent adoption on empathy development in a cross-sectional design comparing adopted with non-adopted primary-school-aged children. It is hypothesised that there will be a group difference, with adopted children scoring lower on parent-report and behavioural measures of empathy than the non-adopted group. Because empathy develops within caregiver-child relationships, it is expected that caregivers’ empathy is associated with child empathy, and, further, that this relationship is moderated by maltreatment (group) status. The sample comprised 27 adopted and 72 non-adopted comparison children (Mean age = 8.77 years, SD = 1.61) and their caregivers living in the UK recruited through schools and adoptive agencies.A combination of questionnaire measures to assess trait empathy and behavioural assessments to assess state empathy is used. Adopted children scored significantly lower on both state and trait measures of empathy. Intriguingly caregivers also differed significantly on state and trait measures of empathy with adoptive parents scoring higher. Significant associations appear between caregiver and child trait empathy measures, but these relationships were not significantly moderated by maltreatment status. Findings are discussed in terms of their relevance for professionals, including in educational contexts, supporting maltreated children, and for biological and alternative caregivers.Experiencing maltreatment in childhood can have detrimental and long-term effects on a child’s development. Maltreatment is the main reason for children to be removed from their family settings and to be looked after by alternative caregivers. Research has demonstrated that even after removal from the maltreating context, many children continue to experience persistent socioemotional difficulties. Less is known about the impact of maltreatment on children’s development of empathy and emotion regulation (ER) specifically and the ways that alternative caregiving protects against negative effects of maltreatment. Empathy and ER are key competencies that underpin a wide variety of other socioemotional skills. This thesis presents two related studies. Firstly, a systematic literature review was conducted to consider the literature exploring the impact of alternative caregiving on ER development. Eight studies were included that compared ER between children with and without experiences of maltreatment and subsequent transition to alternative care arrangements. Half of the studies concluded that maltreatment is associated with significantly less ER and an additional two studies found similar, but non-significant results. There are very few studies that have this focus, highlighting a need for further research. Secondly, empathy was assessed in 27 school-age adopted children with a history of maltreatment and compared with empathy measured with 72 non-adopted, non-maltreated children who live with their biological parents. It was hypothesised that maltreatment would have a negative impact on empathy development resulting in the adopted children scoring lower on empathy measures. It was also hypothesised that caregiver and child empathy would be associated and that this relationship would be moderated by maltreatment (group) status. The findings were that adopted children scored lower on parent-report questionnaire and behavioural measures of empathy. There were significant associations between parent and child measures of empathy, but maltreatment status did not significantly moderate this association. Taken together, both studies identify difficulties maltreated children have even within a context of adoption and fostering with empathy and emotion regulation development. The implications of this are discussed broadly and more specifically related to an educational psychology context.