With Empathy For Friends – Teens With Secure Family Relationships ‘Pay It Forward’
Jessica Stern, University of Virginia
The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.
The big idea
Teens with more secure family relationships get a head start on developing empathy, according to my colleagues’ and my new study tracking adolescents into adulthood.
In contrast to popular myths about self-obsessed teens, existing research shows that adolescence is a key stage of development for the growth of empathy: the ability to stand in someone else’s shoes, to understand and resonate with their emotions and to care about their well-being. Empathy is a skill that develops over time, and it has major consequences for teens’ social interactions, friendships and adult relationships.
So how do teens learn this critical skill?
Our team’s new findings, published on July...
