UCLA

Empathy plays an important role in shaping developmental trajectories of daily interactions between children. When children exhibit appropriate responses to others in distress, this plays a positive role in their social functioning and helping behaviors. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, often face challenges with the ability to discriminate between various emotional states and how to respond. The present study examined the relationship between two of the Big Five Personality Traits (i.e., Conscientiousness and Agreeableness) and empathy in school-age children (ages 7-13 years) with autism. Through quantitative secondary data analysis, this study utilized measures of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and of empathy to analyze the association between associations of emotion regulation-related personality traits and component-based domains of empathy. Results revealed that there was a positive association between Conscientiousness and Agreeableness and affective empathy, supporting the hypothesis of the study. Results further highlighted a significant association between the valence of an emotion (e.g., positive, or negative emotions) and levels of empathy. This work may inform future studies on the impact of empathy as it is linked to two main personality domains for children with autism as they reach school age.