Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.61.1.3
The Mediating Role of Personality and Gender Roles on the Relationship Between Gender and Empathy: A Study on Preservice Teachers
Ivana Pikić Jugović
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Croatia
Dora Petrović
orcid.org/0000-0002-3873-9631
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Croatia
Iris Marušić
orcid.org/0000-0003-4837-790X
; Institute for Social Research in Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Teacher empathy is an essential part of teacher professional role, related to various
student outcomes. Research have shown that women are more empathetic than men.
However, when personality traits or gender roles are included into regression models, gender
no longer predicts empathy. Research have pointed to agreeableness and expressiveness as the
strongest correlates of empathy among personality traits and gender roles respectively, but
these determinants of empathy are still rarely studied in teachers. Therefore, the aim of the
present study was to examine the role of agreeableness and expressiveness in the relationship
between gender and empathy on a sample of preservice subject teachers. Two serial mediation
models with gender as a predictor, agreeableness and expressiveness as mediators, and empathic
concern and perspective taking as criterion variables were tested. Results showed that agreeableness
and expressiveness mediated the relationship between gender and empathy. Significant
serial mediation effects showed that female preservice teachers reported greater agreeableness,
which had a positive effect on expressiveness, which then had a positive effect on empathic concern and perspective taking. Our study indicates that a differentiated approach to empathy
training should be used with different groups of preservice teachers, particularly with those
who report lower agreeableness and expressiveness.
Keywords
empathy; preservice teachers; personality; gender roles; serial mediation model
Hrčak ID:
303933
URI
Publication date:
29.5.2023.
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