The effect of teacher’s leadership on adolescent’s empathy

The moderating role of peer influence.

Abstract

The present study investigated how adolescents develop empathy in school environments. Empathy was defined as the psychological capacity to: (a) share the emotional state of another (emotional sharing; ES); and (b) identify with the other by adopting his/her perspective (perspective taking; PT). We predicted that adolescents’ PT would be affected by peer influence and teacher encouragement, while ES would not. Moreover, peer influence toward adolescents’ PT would be compensated for by teacher encouragement. We conducted a two-wave longitudinal survey (total N = 237). The results showed that: (a) adolescents’ ES was promoted by rigorous teacher encouragement; and (b) the effect of peer relationships on adolescents’ PT was complemented by teacher mentoring on daily life and learning. This study suggests other environmental factors (i.e., teacher encouragement) complemented peer influence.