Empathy and sympathy as mediators between parental inductive discipline and prosocial behavior in Colombian families

The objective of this study was to evaluate the mediation of adolescent empathy and sympathy between parental inductive discipline and adolescent prosocial behavior, as well as to understand whether there are differences between male and female adolescents regarding moral emotions and prosocial behavior and differences between fathers and mothers regarding inductive discipline. The study enrolled 717 participants: 239 fathers, 239 mothers, and one adolescent child of each paired mother and father. Two models of mediation were undertaken, one for empathy and another for sympathy, both resulted statistically significant. Significant differences were also found between male and female adolescents in empathy but not in sympathy or prosocial behavior; specifically, female adolescents tended to be more empathetic than male adolescents. We suggest future studies focus on prosocial behavior associated with parental socioeconomic and educational levels.