From Violence Exposure to Altruism: The Mediating Roles of Emotion Recognition and Empathic Concern

This study aims to clarify the variance in how exposure to violence impacts prosocial behavior. Using behavioral and self-reported data from children (ages 6-10) in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this study investigates how exposure to violence impacts how empathic concern mediates emotion recognition and altruistic behavior. A series of moderated mediation models suggest that the validity of these relationships depend on the frequency of violence exposure. This study's preliminary mediation model of empathic concern on emotion recognition and altruistic behavior was not significant. However, a follow-up moderation model suggests that this mediation works at high levels of violence exposure. When compounded with violence exposure, emotion recognition predicted an increase in both empathic concern and altruistic behavior. However, empathic concern correlated with a decrease in altruistic behavior when compounded with frequent violence exposure. Overall, the full mediation model predicted a decrease in altruistic behavior when moderated by violence exposure. These results highlight the fluidity of prosocial behavior, suggesting these patterns may be highly variable depending on environmental context—in this case, in exposure to community violence.