Empathy Among GenZ: What Drives Empathic Motives?
Previous research suggests that empathy and caring for other groups can be cultivated by social ideals and relationships with people. Our research examines family importance and religious importance as correlates of empathic concern, perspective-taking, and generativity – all motives of activism and prosociality – among a sample of young adults (N = 722) under the age of 35. Given the ethnic-racial diversity of the emerging adult cohorts represented by the Millennials and Generation Z, the moderating role of racial group membership is explored as well.
Importance placed on family is significantly correlated with empathic concern, perspective taking, and generativity, though the relationship is particularly strong for White adults.
Religious importance is significantly related to empathic concern and generativity (not perspective taking), primarily among people of color.