Additional Research Findings

Adapted from Raising Compassionate, Courageous Children in a Violent World

By Dr. Janice Cohn

The importance of empathy and compassion

Despite all the problems in this world, there is a core group of people who continue to report high levels of well-being and life satisfaction. According to the research, such people frequently report being involved with something beyond themselves; often their actions involve a commitment to helping others and working toward a social ideal. The fact is that when people develop into compassionate, caring human beings, it not only benefits society but also promotes personal happiness and higher self-esteem as well.

This correlation also holds true for children. Researchers generally agree that children who have the capacity to be empathic and caring toward others and the motivation and courage to stand up for what they believe is right perform better socially, academically, and in their adult careers than do children who are not empathic. In addition, there is evidence that children who care about others and are involved, even in small ways, in helping people in need feel better about themselves and are at lower risk of experiencing depression.

This finding is particularly important because, by all accounts, the national rates of childhood depression and attempted suicide are steadily rising. Caring for and about others and being less focused on oneself has always been regarded as an effective antidote for adults and children in countering depression and other emotional disorders. Now this theory has been confirmed by a major university research study involving more than 400 people of various ages.

The importance of helping behavior

• For several years Dr. Ervin Staub, one of the country’s premier researchers in the field, has studied the effects of exposing children to opportunities that enable them to help others. He says: “One of my major concerns is how we learn as a result of our own actions. For example, when we get children involved in helping others, it tends to influence other areas of their lives. I’ve conducted research where I’ve gotten children to make toys for disadvantaged, hospitalized youngsters. We found that children who were involved in this activity tended to become more helpful in their everyday lives. This was particularly true if the effect of these children’s actions on the people they helped was specifically pointed out to them.

• Dr. Nancy Eisenberg has produced a number of important studies on the development of empathy in children. She emphasizes that, if children don’t feel pressured or coerced into engaging in helping behavior, it can ultimately be more beneficial to them. She urges parents to give children choices and “let them decide the type of activities they would like to engage in. This helps make it a more meaningful experience for them”

• Dr. Earl Grollman, a former rabbi who has written frequently about the importance of children engaging in helping behavior, puts it this way: “When children experience the joy and satisfaction of realizing they have the power to touch other people’s lives and can make those lives better, even in small ways, it’s more effective than any parental lectures or Sunday school lessons can ever be. I’ve learned this through literally hundreds of discussions with kids.”

Why encourage children to help refugee children from other countries?

Virtually all researchers who study the development of empathy agree that in order to learn empathy and compassion, children must be able to put themselves in other’s places—but not just in the places of people who are the same as they are.

In his comprehensive review of research conducted on children and empathy, Dr. Mark Barnett concluded that children tend to initially respond more empathically to people whom they perceive as being similar in some way to themselves than they do to people they regard as being different. He suggests that parents who want to enhance their children’s capacity for empathy should encourage children to see the similarities we all share as human beings. He cites the research of Martin Hoffman, which contends that children should be encouraged to participate in a wide range of experiences and interact with a diverse group of people.