Empathy and Extracurricular Involvement in Emerging Adulthood: Findings from a Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate College Males

In this study, we analyzed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index Perspective Taking subscale scores for male college students in a 2008–2011 longitudinal study at a large public university in the Southeast. Findings suggest that empathy is amenable to change among college males in the period of emerging adulthood. Through repeated measures analyses of variance, we found that high involvement in an academic club and paid employment predicted positive growth in empathy, while involvement in a fraternity appeared to inhibit empathy growth.