The mediating role of responsibility and friendship between empathy skill and benevolence

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of friendship and responsibility between benevolence and empathy skill in the context of social studies courses. The data in the study, which involves a total of 646 8th grade school students from Turkey, was collected using the scales "Empathy Scale, Benevolence Scale, Friendship Scale, and Responsibility Scale" developed by the authors. It was seen that the research variables have significant positive correlations with each other. It was found that empathy predicts benevolence, friendship, and responsibility significantly and in a positive direction. Friendship and responsibility, on the other hand, were found to play a significant, fully mediating role in the relationship between empathy and benevolence. These results were discussed using the relevant literature and suggestions that were gathered.