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Association between relational trauma and empathy among male offenders in China
Author(s) -
Wang Shaishai,
Wang Xinyang,
Chen Yuxi,
Xu Qingsong,
Cai Liying,
Zhang Tianyang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.2208
Subject(s) - empathy , personal distress , interpersonal reactivity index , psychology , empathic concern , clinical psychology , interpersonal communication , distress , association (psychology) , psychiatry , perspective taking , psychotherapist , social psychology
Background Offenders are more likely than the general population to have experienced relationship trauma. They are also more likely to have lower empathy. To date, relationships between historical trauma and later empathic states have not been examined among offenders. Aims To explore the association between history of trauma in close personal relationships and empathy among offenders. Our research question is: Is such relational trauma associated with self‐rated impairments in empathy? Methods All men with a primary school education and above at a single all‐male prison in Jiangsu Province in China were invited to participate. The self‐reported Interpersonal Reactivity Index was used to evaluate empathy, and the Brief Betrayal Trauma Survey was to explore interpersonal trauma and classify such experiences. Results Interpersonal trauma was associated with higher personal distress and lower empathic concern among men reporting relational trauma in adulthood, but only higher personal distress when the trauma reported was in childhood. Non‐relational trauma was associated with higher empathic concern. Cognitive aspects of empathy varied little between groups. Conclusions Our findings add to the existing literature by making distinctions between the types of trauma and the age of key experience in its relationship to self‐reported empathy. The differences found suggest that it may be helpful to consider planning any trauma‐related interventions differently according to the type and age of trauma experiences.