Examining empathy and perspective taking among high-risk and low-risk persistently antisocial and nonantisocial young adults

The present study investigated empathy and perspective taking of three groups: high-risk persistently antisocial, low-risk persistently antisocial and non-antisocial young adults. Antisocial behaviour refers to acts such as thefts, drug dealing, bullying and fighting. In particular, gender and group-related differences of young adults with differing histories of antisocial behaviour (namely, high-risk persistently antisocial, low-risk persistently antisocial and non-antisocial groups) were examined. One hundred and thirty-eight participants, aged 22 to 23 years of age, were interviewed by phone. Participants were drawn from the Australian Temperament Project (ATP) which is a prospective longitudinal study that has tracked pathways of antisocial behaviour and psychosocial adjustment from infancy to young adulthood. An examination of group and gender differences found that high-risk persistently antisocial youth endorsed lower levels of affective empathy, as measured by the empathic concern subscale on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), compared to their non-antisocial counterparts. Female participants also reported higher levels of affective empathy than male participants. No gender or group differences were found on the cognitive component of the IRI, as measured by the perspective taking subscale. In particular, this study suggests that both gender and the level of risk for persistently antisocial behaviour were significantly related to differences in empathy in young adulthood. Discussion is focused on the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.