Age, gender, and educational level predict emotional but not cognitive empathy in farsi-speaking iranians

The affective and cognitive components of empathy have been extensively researched in various disciplines. However, little is known about how these components are influenced by individual differences in maturation or development. Acknowledging such a gap in the literature, the current study examined how individual differences (i.e., age, gender, and education) facilitate the development of dispositional empathy. Therefore, to meet the goals of this study, the Farsi version of three empathy questionnaires (i.e., Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Questionnaire Measurement of Emotional Empathy, and Empathy Quotient) were distributed among Farsi-speakers living inside or outside mainland Iran. The analysis of data obtained from 510 participants showed that age, educational level, and gender accounted for the changes in affective empathy, without any significant impact on cognitive empathy. The current study is the first study investigating developmental changes in self-report empathy score in a population of Farsi-speaking Iranians.