Maternal touch contributes to development of child empathy: a longitudinal study

Maternal touch plays a pivotal role in children’s socioemotional development, yet its relationship with empathy as well as the potential roles of attachment and parenting styles in the relationship remain understudied. This longitudinal study employed a two-wave design with a six-month interval, collecting data from mothers of children aged 3–6 years at both timepoints. Measures included maternal touch, attachment security, parenting styles, child empathy, and demographic variables. Results revealed that maternal touch at Time 1 positively predicted child empathy at Time 2 (six months later). Notably, attachment security mediated the relationship between maternal touch and cognitive empathy. Additionally, permissive parenting moderated the association between maternal touch and emotional empathy, specifically weakening its strength. These findings provide new insights into how tactile parent–child interactions, in conjunction with caregiving contexts, shape the developmental trajectory of empathy in early childhood.