Empathy Across the Adult Lifespan: Longitudinal and Experience-Sampling Findings

This study examined change in self-reported empathy in it four-wave longitudinal study spanning 12 years (1992-2004) and the association between empathy and other measures, including daily reports of relationship experiences. Participants initially ranged in age front 10 years to 87 years. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations of age with empathy reveald divergent patterns. Whereas cross-sectional analyses suggested that older adults scored lower in empathy than younger adults, longitudinal analyses showed no age-related decline in empathy. This combined pattern suggests that the cross-sectional age-differences reflect a cohort rather than all age effect, with older cohorts, reporting lower levels of empathy than younger Ones. Independent of aged empathy was associated with a positive well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) and interaction profile (e.g., positive relations with others). In addition, a subsample of participants (n = 114) conducted experience-sampling about social interactions for a week. People with high self-reported empathy perceived their interactions as more meaningful, felt more positive ill these interactions, and thought that their interaction partner felt also more positive. Thus, self-reported empathy as meaningfully associated with adults' actual social interactions.