Association between relational trauma and empathy among male offenders in China
Shaishai Wang
School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorYuxi Chen
Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorQingsong Xu
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Xiangcheng District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorLiying Cai
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Xiangcheng District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Tianyang Zhang
School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Correspondence
Tianyang Zhang, School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorShaishai Wang
School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorYuxi Chen
Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorQingsong Xu
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Xiangcheng District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorLiying Cai
Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Xiangcheng District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Tianyang Zhang
School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Research Center for Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Correspondence
Tianyang Zhang, School of Public Health, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
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.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The datasets used during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Supporting Information
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Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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