How do Children with Intellectual Disabilities Empathize in Comparison to Typically Developing Children?

OBJECTIVES: Two studies were conducted to better understand how children with intellectual disabilities (ID) empathize with the feelings of others during social interactions. The first study tested hypotheses of developmental delay or difference regarding empathy in 79 children with ID by comparing them with typically developing (TD) children, matched for developmental age or chronological age. The second study examined specific aspects of empathy in 23 children with Down syndrome (DS), compared with 23 nonspecific ID children, matched for developmental age, and TD children, matched for developmental age or chronological age. METHOD: An empathy task was administered to the children while their parents completed the French versions of the Empathy Questionnaire and the Griffith Empathy Measure. RESULTS: The first study showed that ID children showed delayed empathy development but were perceived by their parents as deficient in cognitive empathy. The second study showed that DS children were perceived as being more attentive to the feelings of others than TD children and non-specific ID children, matched for developmental age, and as having affective empathy that was similar to that of TD children matched for chronological age. CONCLUSION: These studies have drawn attention to delays or differences in different dimensions of empathy in children with ID and DS, which need to be taken into account in interventions.

Psychometric Properties of the Theory of Mind Task Battery (French Version) in Neurotypical Children and Intellectually Disabled Children.

These studies tested the psychometric properties of the French version of the Theory of Mind (ToM) Task Battery (vf) in typically developing (TD) children and intellectually disabled (ID) children. The Battery was administered to 649 TD children (2 ½ to 12 years old) in Study 1 and 155 ID (4 ½ to 14 ½ years old) in Study 2. Their mothers completed questionnaires: in both studies, the Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI-1-vf); in Study 1, the Griffith Empathy Measure (GEM-vf) and the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC-vf); and in Study 2, the Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation (SCBE-vf). The Battery showed good internal consistency in both groups. Positive links with age and differences between age groups were identified in their performances. Convergent validity was confirmed by positive correlations between TD children's scores in the Battery and in ToMI1-vf, in empathy, in emotion regulation, and by a negative correlation with emotion dysregulation. In ID children, their scores in the Battery were positively linked with those in ToMI-1-vf, in some scales of SCEB-vf, and had a low level of internalizing problems. This Battery presents good psychometric qualities and could be useful for explicit assessment of ToM in TD and ID children in future research and intervention.

Empathy in Preschoolers: Exploring Profiles and Age- and Gender-Related Differences.

Empathy is a key skill in the daily life of preschoolers, and it is important to understand how it evolves during this crucial period of development. This paper includes two studies. The first study, which had a cross-sectional design, examined affective, cognitive, and behavioral empathy in 354 children (aged from 3 to 6 years) through a performance-based measure and questionnaires completed by their mothers. Although girls tended to have better affective empathy than boys on the performance-based task, no difference was noted in the mothers' perceptions of their children's empathy. Empathy dimensions varied depending on the age of the children. The hierarchical cluster analyses of the cases identified differentiated subgroups of children, according to their empathic skills in the three dimensions. The second study, which was longitudinal, used the same measures and investigated the developmental trajectory of empathy in 69 preschoolers over one year. The results showed that each empathic dimension predicted itself one year later, but did not predict the two others. The implications for potential interventions are emphasized in this study.

Preschoolers' Empathy Profiles and Their Social Adjustment.

Preschoolers face new challenges in their social life: the development of social and emotional abilities in order to have positive relationships with peers and adults. Empathy, the ability to share and understand the emotions of others, contributes to this socio-emotional adjustment. This exploratory study examines mothers and fathers' perceptions of their child's empathy and individual factors, such as age, gender, and personality, which are related to cognitive and affective empathy in 63 typically developing preschoolers. Links between children's individual characteristics (empathy and personality) and their social adjustment on the one hand and risk of developing internalized vs. externalized behaviors on the other were also investigated. Parents completed four questionnaires about their child's empathy, personality, and social (mal)adjustment. The results showed that mothers and fathers perceived their children's cognitive and affective empathy, attention to others' feelings, and social actions (such as helping), in the same way, except for emotion contagion. Gender differences appeared specifically for some components of empathy: girls were said to pay more attention to others' emotions while boys had better cognitive empathy. Moreover, children's empathy as perceived by mothers or fathers was positively linked with their age, and with personality factors (extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, and openness to experience). Cognitive empathy and personality were found to be partly related to higher social skills and lower externalized and internalized behaviors. The results nuanced specific links between cognitive and affective empathy and social adjustment as well as behavior problems at preschool age. These results may have some implications for future research and prevention in childhood.

Social Cognition in Children With Non-specific Intellectual Disabilities: An Exploratory Study.

Social cognitive abilities - notably, Theory of Mind (ToM) and social information processing (SIP) - are key skills for the development of social competence and adjustment. By understanding affective and cognitive mental states and processing social information correctly, children will be able to enact prosocial behaviors, to interact with peers and adults adaptively, and to be socially included. As social adjustment and inclusion are major issues for children with intellectual disabilities (IDs), the present study aimed to explore their social cognitive profile by combining cluster analysis of both ToM and SIP competence, and to investigate the structure of relations between these skills in children with IDs. Seventy-eight elementary school children with non-specific IDs were recruited. They had a chronological age ranging from 4 years and 8 months to 12 years and 6 months and presented a preschool developmental age. Performance-based measures were administered to assess ToM and SIP abilities. Questionnaires were completed by the children's parents to evaluate the children's social competence and adjustment and their risk of developing externalizing or internalizing behaviors. Exploratory analysis highlighted strengths and weaknesses in the social cognitive profiles of these children with IDs. It also emphasized that the understanding of affective and cognitive mental states was used differently when facing appropriate vs. inappropriate social behaviors. The present study leads to a better understanding of the socio-emotional profile of children with IDs and offers some suggestions on how to implement effective interventions.