EMPATHY AS A MEDIATOR OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND AGGRESSION AMONG JUVENILE DELINQUENTS AND NON-DELINQUENTS

Rahila Riasat, Rabia Khawar, Saba Ghayas, Ambarin Fatima, Saima Saeed

Abstract
The study explored the differences and inter-relationship of empathy,
emotional intelligence and reactive proactive aggression among juvenile
delinquents and non-delinquents. Juvenile delinquents (n = 186) from
Borstal Jail, Faisalabad and Jaranwala and a matched control group (n =
186) was drawn from general population.Emotional Empathy
Questionnaire (Ashraf, 2004), Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire
(Raine et al., 2006) and Emotional Intelligence Scale Youth version (Bar On,
2006) were used. As assumed, lower levels of empathy and poor emotional
intelligence both significantly predicted higher levels of reactive and
proactive aggression. Additionally, emotional intelligence proved to be a
significant predictor of emotional empathy. Emotional empathy partially
mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and aggression
in the total sample. Results of t-test showed that delinquents had
significantly poorer emotional intelligence, lower levels of empathy and
higher levels of both reactive-proactive aggressions than non-delinquent
group. The findings are discussed for the role of emotional competence in
aggression and delinquency.

Key Words: Empathy, Emotional Intelligence, Reactive Aggression,
Proactive Aggression, Juvenile Delinquents, Emotional Competence.