Relationship between national origin, gender, and empathy in American and International university students.

Abstract

This study attempted to establish the relationship between gender, national origin, and empathy in American and international university students. This research investigated the differences between international and American students' scores, differences between female and male students, and the gender and national origin interaction to produce significantly different scores. Participants were 60 male and female students, 30 American and 30 international students, who attended a mid-western state university. Students were required to answer a demographic questionnaire and the Mehrabian's Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES) to determine the empathy level scores obtained by each group. A factorial ANOVA design was used in this study. The two factors, gender and national origin, were fully crossed. Results indicated that gender and national origin significantly interact when producing the empathy levels scores expressed by American and International students who participated.