Euler Felix, Steinlin Célia, Stadler Christina
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Clinics Basel, Schanzenstrasse 13, 4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2017 Jan 6;11:1. doi: 10.1186/s13034-016-0141-4. eCollection 2017.
Aggression comprises a heterogeneous set of behavioral patterns that aim to harm and hurt others. Empathy represents a potential mechanism that inhibits aggressive conduct and enhances prosocial behavior. Nevertheless, research results on the relationship between empathy and aggression are mixed. Subtypes of aggressive behavior, such as reactive and proactive aggression might be differently related to empathy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the interrelations of cognitive and affective empathy with reactive and proactive aggression.
We recruited a sample of 177 (33% female, M age 15.6) adolescents from socio-educational and juvenile justice institutions and a community sample of 77 (36% female, M age 13.1) adolescents from secondary schools. Using bivariate correlation analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis, we firstly investigated associations between cognitive and affective empathy and reactive and proactive aggression. Subsequently, we performed cluster analysis to identify clusters of adolescents with meaningful profiles of aggressive behavior and compared derived clusters on measures of empathy. We applied the Basic Empathy Scale and the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire.
Bivariate analysis and hierarchical regression analysis showed that cognitive and affective empathy were negatively associated with proactive aggression, but not with reactive aggression. Cluster-analysis revealed three clusters of adolescents with distinct aggression profiles: a cluster with elevated scores on reactive and proactive aggression, a clusters with high scores on reactive aggression only, and a low aggression cluster. Cluster comparisons revealed that the reactive-proactive aggression cluster showed significantly lower scores on cognitive and affective empathy than both other clusters. Results further indicated that within the reactive-proactive aggression cluster, girls did not differ significantly from boys in empathy.
The present study extends previously published findings, and possibly explains conflicting results in prior research. Our results indicated that cognitive and affective empathy are reduced in adolescents with high levels of reactive and proactive aggression. Our study may contribute to the development of tailored clinical interventions for different aggression clusters.
攻击行为包含一系列旨在伤害他人的异质性行为模式。同理心是一种潜在机制，可抑制攻击行为并促进亲社会行为。然而，关于同理心与攻击行为之间关系的研究结果并不一致。攻击行为的亚型，如反应性攻击和主动性攻击，可能与同理心存在不同的关联。本研究旨在探讨认知同理心和情感同理心与反应性攻击和主动性攻击之间的相互关系。
我们从社会教育和青少年司法机构招募了177名青少年（33%为女性，平均年龄15.6岁）作为样本，以及从中学招募了77名青少年（36%为女性，平均年龄13.1岁）作为社区样本。我们首先使用双变量相关分析和分层多元回归分析，研究认知同理心和情感同理心与反应性攻击和主动性攻击之间的关联。随后，我们进行聚类分析，以识别具有有意义攻击行为特征的青少年群体，并在同理心测量指标上比较得出的群体。我们使用了基本同理心量表和反应性-主动性攻击问卷。
双变量分析和分层回归分析表明，认知同理心和情感同理心与主动性攻击呈负相关，但与反应性攻击无关。聚类分析揭示了三类具有不同攻击特征的青少年群体：一类在反应性攻击和主动性攻击上得分较高，一类仅在反应性攻击上得分较高，以及一类低攻击群体。群体比较显示，反应性-主动性攻击群体在认知同理心和情感同理心方面的得分显著低于其他两个群体。结果进一步表明，在反应性-主动性攻击群体中，女孩在同理心方面与男孩没有显著差异。
本研究扩展了先前发表的研究结果，并可能解释了先前研究中相互矛盾的结果。我们的结果表明，反应性和主动性攻击水平较高的青少年的认知同理心和情感同理心较低。我们的研究可能有助于为不同的攻击群体制定针对性的临床干预措施。
