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Inmates’ empathy in relation to perceived parenting and attachment working models

Hung-Chu Lin (Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA)
Yang Yang (Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA)
Robert McFatter (Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA)
Raymond W. Biggar (Cecil J. Picard Center of Child Development and Lifelong Learning, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA)
Rick Perkins (Department of Psychology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA)

Journal of Criminal Psychology

ISSN: 2009-3829

Article publication date: 28 September 2017

Issue publication date: 19 October 2017

277

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine criminal offenders’ dispositional empathy and relate it to perceived parenting characteristics of primary caregivers (measured as care and overprotection) and inmates’ internal working models of the self and others (measured as attachment anxiety and avoidance, respectively).

Design/methodology/approach

Compared to a group of 110 college students, the group of 102 inmates indicated lower levels of cognitive and emotional empathy (measured as perspective taking (PT) and empathic concern (EC), respectively). Among inmates, perceived parental care was related to PT; parental overprotection was related to EC.

Findings

The inmates’ data fit a model suggesting a mediational role of attachment anxiety in the relation between perceived parental overprotection and EC. Also, inmates’ attachment avoidance moderated the relation between attachment anxiety and EC, so that the relation only occurred when attachment avoidance was not high. The findings suggested potential protective roles of early parental bonding and positive views of social others in enhancing empathy for justice-involved populations.

Originality/value

The findings shed light on how inmates’ perception of parenting related to both aspects of empathy and how cognitive representations of the self and others potentially underlie the association between perceived parenting and their disposition for EC. To cultivate dispositional empathy as a means of preventing delinquency, it is important to advocate not only parenting characterized as caring and warm, but also cognitive interventions on framing positive working models of social others, particularly for those who perceive their primary caregivers as overprotective and are highly avoidant to social closeness.

Keywords

Citation

Lin, H.-C., Yang, Y., McFatter, R., Biggar, R.W. and Perkins, R. (2017), "Inmates’ empathy in relation to perceived parenting and attachment working models", Journal of Criminal Psychology, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 302-318. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCP-09-2016-0024

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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