The empathic family and the development of mature personal identity in emerging adults

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between the dimensions of self-assessed empathy and perceptions of parental empathy and identity processes, and to identify the most mature identity statuses of emerging adults in educational and best friend domains. A total of 676 emerging adults (44.5% males) aged 19–29 completed self-assessment measures. Path analyses in the structural equation modeling approach revealed that self-assessed other-oriented empathy was a partial mediator in the relationship between perceived maternal other-oriented empathy and mature identity development in the friendship domain. In the educational domain, only higher perceived maternal empathy was linked with achievement status. Thus, the perception of maternal empathy was the strongest predictor of mature identity in both studied identity domains. Finally, gender differences affected the association between empathy (both self-assessed and perceived in parents) and identity processes. The implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Personal identity
• empathy
• parental empathy
• emerging adulthood

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.