Relationship between empathy and the big five personality traits in a sample of Spanish adolescents

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2004
Author
Barrio, María Victoria del
Aluja Fabregat, Antón
García Rodríguez, Luis Francisco
Suggested citation
Barrio, María Victoria del; Aluja Fabregat, Antón; García Rodríguez, Luis Francisco; . (2004) . Relationship between empathy and the big five personality traits in a sample of Spanish adolescents. Social Behavior and Personality, 2004, vol. 32, núm. 7, p. 677-682. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2004.32.7.677.
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Abstract
Empathy has been considered a central feature of our temperamental dispositions in childhood and adolescence. It plays a central role in the development of prosocial behavior and moral reasoning. However, the links between empathy and the major factors of personality have not yet been well described. This study explores the relationships between an index of empathy and the Big-Five personality model in a sample of 832 Spanish adolescents. As expected, results show that empathy correlates strongly with Friendliness. Positive correlations with Conscientiousness, Energy, and Openness traits have also been observed, but regression analyses show that relationships of empathy with those three factors were of negligible importance. Contrary to expectations, empathy did not correlate with Emotional stability. This pattern of results was replicated across boys and girls.
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http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/58616
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2004.32.7.677
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Social Behavior and Personality, 2004, vol. 32, núm. 7, p. 677-682
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