Impact of maternal cognitive sensitivity on children’s empathy development

I intend to address the gap in the literature about the relationship between parenting and children’s empathy development by systematically examining the relationship between a specific type of parenting practice: maternal cognitive sensitivity, and how it promotes children’s empathy development. The main objective of this study is to explore how cognitively sensitive parenting fosters the development of children’s empathy. My study is embedded within a large longitudinal study previously conducted and completed in Dr. Jennifer Jenkins’ lab, that examined influences on children’s development using a within family design.

For my proposed study, I will use existing data from Dr. Jenkins’ study and I will focus on data about the youngest child in the family. To explore the proposed regression model, I will conduct hierarchical regression analyses to examine the relationship between maternal cognitive sensitivity and children’s prosocial skills.

I expect to find that the specific parenting practice examined has a positive impact on children’s empathy development.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jennifer Jenkins

Student:

Partner:

Zhejiang University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto