Differences in empathy between offender and nonoffender youth

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in empathy between off ender and nonoffender youth. Seventy-six male and 33 female juvenile offend ers between the ages of 12 and 18 years and 33 male and 33 female nonoffend ers between the ages of 15 and 19 years comprised the samples for this stud y. Measures of empathy, altruism, and social support were administered to a ll participants and then the participants were analyzed for status group di fferences. Only I dimension of empathy, emotional tone, was found to be sig nificantly different based on group status. Gender differences were found f or both status groups for another dimension of empathy, personal distress. Among offender and nonoffender youth, females yielded higher scores in pers onal distress than did males. Emotional tone and family structure were foun d to be the most predictive variables of offender status. Findings were dis cussed based on previous research and implications for interventions were a ddressed.