Zeinab Abedi Daryooni; La'ya Bashash
Volume 3, Issue 10 , March 2013, , Pages 93-112
Abstract
Various researches have consistently shown thatpeople with mental disabilities have difficulties in recognizing, describingand responding to the emotional states of others. The aim of this research isto compare empathy dimensions of two groups of students with and withoutintellectual disabilities. The ...
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Various researches have consistently shown thatpeople with mental disabilities have difficulties in recognizing, describingand responding to the emotional states of others. The aim of this research isto compare empathy dimensions of two groups of students with and withoutintellectual disabilities. The statistical population of this research consistsof all students with mild intellectual disability and typically developingstudents of elementary schools of Shiraz in the academic year of 2010-2011. 733students, 339 with mild intellectual disabilities and 393 normal students, agedbetween 7 and 11 years old are selected as sample from elementary schools ofShiraz. The instrument of the study is the Griffith Empathy Measure (Dadds& et al, 2008). The scale has three dimensions; affectional, cognitive andgeneral. Parents of the sample students are asked to complete the questionnaire.The reliability of the scale is studied by test-retest reliability (affectioal α=.66, cognitive α= .57, and general α= .71). The validity is confirmed byinternal consistency. The study achieved the following results: 1) there is nosignificant difference between the two groups in the affectional empathydimension. In contrast, results indicate significant difference in thecognitive and general dimensions, because the typically developing students hadhigher scores in the cognitive and general dimensions than students withintellectual disabilities. 2) In the affectional dimension, females achievedhigher scores than males. 3) In the general empathy dimension, females withoutdisability had higher scores than males with intellectual disability