The Importance of Sympathy and Empathy for Teenager’s

Emotional Growth and Development

Almayra Hasna Zulkarnain, Jasmine Razqyalifa Putri Alamsyah, Muhammad Fatihatul
Lisda Gandaputra and Sarah Qonitah
MAN 4 South Jakarta Students
almayra.zulkar@gmail.com,jasmine.r.alamsyah@gmail.com, fatihatullisda0@gmail.com,
sarahqk15@gmail.com

Abstract
This research examines how sympathy and empathy can greatly affect a teenager’s emotional growth and
development. The teenage year is a unique phase in a person’s development, as they will feel a lot of changes and
development in many of their personal or individual aspects, some of them that is the physical and psychological
changes. This paper will discuss further more on the psychological aspect in teen’s development. Psychological
changes may come from various factors, including one child’s environment and family background. Parenting
method is a big factor in forming a child’s sympathy and empathy. Sympathy and empathy plays a big role on how
someone can handle and present themselves in their social life. This research’s purpose is to find out more about
how sympathy and empathy from an adolescent’s environment can impact their emotional growth and development,
and to gather the information out there and make/form a conclusion. This research uses the qualitative method,
which is by collecting data from journals, articles, etc. Lack of empathy and sympathy in a child may be caused by
social or environmental factors and also psychological factors. An educational media will be used in bring our
materials to respondents. Then using the likert scale method to gather data regarding student’s understanding about
sympathy and empathy, its impacts on teenager’s emotional growth and development, and ways to nurture and
develop their sympathetic and empathetic attitude.

Keywords
Child, development, environment, sympathy and empathy

1. Introduction

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a teenager is a young person who is developing into an adult. Usually
ranging from 10 - 19 year olds, the teenage age is the age where they will have new experiences, opportunities,
environments, and other new things to go through. It is a unique state of human development, as it is in between the
stages of “childhood days'' and “adulthood”. The teenager stage is when they will have massive growth and
development in many of their individual aspects. One of the aspects is the emotional aspect.

There are many aspects that affect a teenager’s emotional growth and development. One of them is the environment
they live in. An environment has an important role in the growth and development of teenagers. It truly determines
how they will act and their way of socializing with their peers. Family is also an aspect that is important for a teen’s
growth. As a family have a lot of roles in shaping a child's behavior and personality and giving real examples to
them. Interactions with parents and the environment they live in becomes an experience that will later shape the
child's interaction with others. If a family sets a bad example for their children, it may lead to them having bad
behaviors in their social life.

This negative example is the one that is truly harmful for a child’s psychological state. Not giving a good example of
sympathy and empathy to a child is almost the same with neglect and emotional abuse to a child as both lead to the
very same effects on the child’s emotional and psychological development. For example, it may stunt physical
development of the child’s brain and lead to psychological problems, such as low self esteem, which would later
lead to high-risk behaviors.
Teenagers that were given and got taught about sympathy and empathy badly may develop some behavioral
problems even after the maltreatment ends. One of the examples of it is Juvenile delinquency and criminal activities.
Juvenile delinquency is a term commonly used in academic literature for referring to a young person who has
committed a criminal offense. According to Kartini Kartono (2011 : 6) Juvenile delinquency is an immoral behavior,
or crime/delinquency of young people; is a social (pathological) symptom in children and adolescents caused by a
form of social neglect. According to Sudarsono (2012), juvenile delinquency as a child crime can be interpreted as
having a negative psychological impact on the child who is the perpetrator, especially if the term directly becomes a
kind of trade-mark. This research’s purpose is to find out more about how sympathy and empathy from an
adolescent's environment can impact their emotional growth and development, and also to deepen our understanding
of sympathy and empathy.

Based on the background that has been described above, the researcher is interested in conducting research with the
title “The Importance of Sympathy and Empathy for Teenager’s Emotional Growth and Development”. Based on
the background of the problems described above, the problem formulation in this research is “The Importance of
Sympathy and Empathy for Teenager’s Emotional Growth and Development”

2. Research Method
Researches with mixed methods are done through combining 2 types of data that is the quantitative and qualitative
data. Searching for materials from articles and journals are through literature study method. In this paper, an
education tool that is the ‘explosion box’ is made with the aim to explain and guide respondents (36 students) about
sympathy and empathy in a more concise and simplified way. A learning device that is EBOXSY (Explosion Box of
Sympathy and Empathy) will be made to cover materials regarding of sympathy and empathy. This is made to
deliver the materials of this research to respondents in a more simplified way so that respondents can grasp and
understand it more clearly. After that, surveys using the likert scale will be given to respondents in order to
determine respondent understandings of the materials from the educational media. From the results of the data
collected, data will be analyzed and compared so that a conclusion will be made about the concepts of sympathy and
empathy in a teen’s daily life, and the effectiveness of using the EBOXSY as an educational media.

3. Finding and Discussion

3.1 Emotional Development in Teens

The teenage year is the year that transitions between childhood and adulthood. During this period, adolescents
experience physical, mental, social and emotional development. This period is usually felt as a difficult time,
both for teenagers themselves and for their families and environment. Emotions are very influential for an
individual, especially teenagers, in the social life, both directly visible in the form of behavior and hidden ones.
Emotions are closely related to humans because they are within them; every human being must have them. The
environment where teenagers live, namely the family, school and community environment, plays an important
role in shaping teenagers' emotions, for these reason positive conditions from the environment and example from
parents and other adults are needed so that teenagers get the moral and social values needed for their emotional
development.

3.2 Major Contexts in Teens Development

Emotional developments involves much more than the influences that arise from within an individual.
Environmental factors such as social relationships and the culture in which we live also play essential roles.
There are three major contexts that we need to consider in our analysis of child psychology.

1. Cultural Context
Cultures that teen’s lives in contributes many set of values, customs, and ways of living that influences
their development throughout their lifespan. Culture plays a role in how teens can relate to their parents
and friends in that very same environment, the education they receive, and the type of childcare that is
provided and mostly shown.
 2. Social Context
Relationships with their peers and adults in their circle have an effect on how they will think, learn, and
develop. Families, schools, and peer groups all make up an important part of the social context.

3. Socioeconomic Context
Social class also plays a big role in a teen’s emotional development. Socioeconomic status (often
abbreviated as SES), is based upon a number of different factors including how much education people
have, how much money they earn, the job they hold, and where they live. Teens that are raised in a much
higher socioeconomic class tend to have bigger opportunities and greater access to primary needs, while
teens from households with lower socioeconomic status may struggle with access to such things as
health care, education, and quality nutrition. Such things can have a major impact on teen’s psychology.

All these contexts are constantly interacting. While a teen may have fewer opportunities and needs that are met
because of a low socioeconomic status, enriching social relationships and strong cultural ties may help correct
this imbalance.

3.3 Factors Affecting Teen’s Sympathy and Empathy

The followings are some factors that are essential in teen’s development:

Parenting Styles
Parenting has a huge effect for teen’s psychological development, as it encompasses parents' behaviors and
attitudes and the emotional environment in which they raise their children. There are 4 parenting styles that are
usually found in how parents raise their children, that is:

1. Authoritarian
This kind of parenting sets high expectations for their children and expecting their child to follow the rules
established by parents. Failure if seen or caught in the parent’s eyes may results in punishments.
Authoritarian parents won’t explain the reasoning behind these rules. When asked, parents will just simply
reply “because I said so”. Authoritarian, or sometimes called “Tiger Parenting”, expect their children to
behave exceptionally and not make mistakes or errors. Yet they provide little to no guidance or directions
for their child to follow or to avoid in the future. This kind of parenting often forms lower self esteem in
children, some end up being obedient, while some can be aggressive. They tend to lie to avoid punishments
2. Authoritative
Like authoritarian parents, those with this style establish rules that their child is expected to follow. Unlike
authoritarian style, authoritative parents are more democratic, and sets their teachings in a more loving and
supportive environment. Authoritative parents are responsive to their children and willing to listen to
questions, and when children don’t meet their expectations, parents are a lot more nurturing and they will
guide rather than punish. Children that are raised with this kind of parenting will result in a happier, brighter,
and successful child. They will be a lot more confident and independent. They are less likely to be affected
by peer pressure.
3. Permissive
Permissive parents or sometimes called ‘Indulgent Parents’, make very few demands on their child. They
might be very loving but they don’t reinforce rules and rarely discipline their children. This may form bad
behaviors and an uncontrollable nature as parents don’t set ground rules on the child’s everyday life. These
children are more likely to experience problems with authority and tend to perform poorly in school.
4. Neglectful/Uninvolved
In addition to the three major styles introduced by Baumrind, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and John
Martin proposed a fourth style: uninvolved or neglectful parenting. An uninvolved/neglectful parenting is
characterized by few demands, very little to no responsiveness, and very little communication. These parents
may fulfill their child’s basic needs like food and shelter, but they offer very little in the way of guidance,
expectations, rules, or even support. They are generally detached from their own child’s life. Children raised
with this style of parenting tend to lack self-control, have low self-esteem, worse social relationships, and
are less competent then their peers.
 Education
The kind of education that a child receives will greatly affect the growth and development of a teen’s
psychological state. The well-being of everyone within a learning community can be developed positively by
developing a safe, caring and supportive environment which allows relationships to be developed based on
mutual respect. Schools have an essential role in building a positive environment for students to study to. If a
school environment is not positive for a student, this may impact their well-being. It may build some kind of
anxiety within them and forms some kind of trauma with school environments.

Gender Roles
Gender stereotypes can cause actual harm for a child’s psychology. Imposing rigid ideas of masculinity and
femininity in teen boys and girls can limit their potentials and causing negative effects in later life. It contributes
towards poor mental health in young people, higher male suicide rates, low self-esteem in girls and issues with
body image (1 in 5 14 y.o self harms) furthermore allowing a culture of toxic masculinity and violence against
women to go unchecked. From an early age, they latch onto stereotypes as a way to belong and fit in with their
peers or ascribed gender – along with the constant ways gender roles are reinforced to them through society. This
may also affect their way of showing sympathy and empathy, as boys are taught that showing their emotions and
care to other people make them look vulnerable and ‘not manly enough’. This can lead to bullying and even
violence.

Environmental Influences
A teen’s way of showing sympathy and empathy can vary based on the influences they get from an environment
that they live in. Every environment is different from the other, some environments give positive influences,
some have negative influences for teens living in them. Diversity in an environment also forms how teens react
and interact with others that have different characteristics. It’s important for parental figures or guardians to give
guidance for teens so that they can differentiate positive and negative values from their environment.

4. Tables

Table 1. Data results from the explosion box survey

5. Conclusion
Based on our reviews from articles, journals, and news; environmental factors have an essential part in forming a
teen’s sympathetic and empathetic values. The three major contexts are the social context, cultural context, and the
socioeconomic context. Parenting styles, education, gender roles and environmental influences also have major parts
in building a teen’s sympathetic and empathetic feelings. Lack of empathy and sympathy in a teen’s daily life may
have bad outcomes in later lifes. From the questionnaires that were given, 23.1% of respondents claimed that their
understanding of sympathy and empathy is very great. 69.2% claimed that it’s great, and 7.7% claimed that it’s not
well received. While for the effectiveness, 15.4% of respondents very agreed, 69.2% agreed, while 15.4% agreed
less in the effectiveness. Majority of respondents claimed that their understanding and the effectiveness of the
EBOXSY are great.
Reference
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Saputro, Heri., Talan, Otnial, Yufentri., Pengaruh Lingkungan Keluarga Terhadap Perkembangan Psikososial
Pada Anak Prasekolah,vol. 1, no. 1,pp,1-3. 2017.
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a global perspective, vol. 41, no. 1. 2017.
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Biographies
Almayra Hasna Zulkarnain

Jasmine Razqyalifa Putri Alamsyah

Muhammad Fatihatul Lisda Gandaputra

Sarah Qonitah