Individual differences in empathy‐related responses in early childhood: A person‐centred approach

Empathy is vital for social development in early childhood. This study investigates the empathy-related behaviours of 362 German and Canadian children (49.72% girls) aged 3 to 6 years (M = 60.65 months; SD = 11.43 months), focusing on responses to emotional distress. Using latent profile analysis, a person-centred approach, we identified four profiles with distinct empathy-related response patterns: prosocial, empathic, self-distressed and uninvolved. To further delineate these profiles, we examined associations between profile membership and social-cognitive and social-emotional competencies. Results suggest that temperamental surgency and moral self-concept differed across profiles. Self-distressed children were rated lower in surgency compared with other profiles, and prosocial children had higher moral self-concept than uninvolved children. Descriptively, profiles differed in emotion comprehension, with no significant post-hoc differences, whereas Theory of Mind and inhibitory control did not differ between profiles. These results provide novel insights into the complex interplay of factors associated with children's reactions to emotional distress, enhancing our understanding of empathy development and informing future research directions.