What is it about?
We examined whether qualities of parent–child relationship, namely, emotional warmth and acceptance, predict offspring compassion decades later in adulthood. We followed the same 2761 individuals for over thirty years. We found that higher parental warmth predicted higher offspring compassion thirty years later in adulthood. Warmth means a positive emotional bond between the child and the parent. It means that the child is emotionally significant to the parent. Compassion means feeling concern towards those who suffer and it also means feeling a need to help.
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Why is it important?
These results are important because so far very little is known about the factors affecting the development of compassion. These results can be used for instance in informing the parents on how to support the development of compassion in their children. Compassion has many benefits for the individual and also for the society, so it is an important goal to support its development. Some previous studies have shown that narcissistic traits (the opposite to compassion) are rising in the population and it would be important to find ways to counterbalance this trend.
Perspectives
I hope this article helps to increase compassion and well-being in the world even a little. We are all dependend on one-another. Feeling compassion for others is a win-win situation: feeling compassion increases our own well-being as well as the well-being of those who are treated with compassion.
Professor Mirka Hintsanen
University of Oulu
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Parent–child-relationship quality predicts offspring dispositional compassion in adulthood: A prospective follow-up study over three decades., Developmental Psychology, November 2018, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/dev0000633.
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