EMPATHY DURING LIFE SPAN

The present study investigates empathic capacity during life span from young adulthood to old age, by using the Italian version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI, Davis, 1980, Italian version: Albiero, Ingoglia, & Lo Coco, 2006), a widely used questionnaire for the evaluation of empathic responsivity. The IRI has been administered to 509 participants divided in three age groups, young adults (18-34 years of age), adults (35-64 years) and elderly people (65-85 years), equally represented by females and males. The results of the exploratory and confirmatory analyses support the hypothesized four-factorial model (empathic concern, personal distress, fantasy and perspective taking), as seen in previous studies (Albiero et al., 2006; Davis, 1980) although a far more extended age group has been considered. Moreover, gender and some other personal and contextual factors seem to influence the empathic capacity of the participants.