A Study on the Relations between Self-Esteem and Empathic Skills of Undergraduate Students of Preschool Education Department

The aim of the study was to examine the relation between the self-esteem and empathic skill of the undergraduate students of preschool education department. The sample group was comprised of 3rd and 4th year students attending to Preschool Education Department, Primary Education, Faculty of Education of Pamukkale University. The General Information Form, the Empathic Skills Scale – Form B as developed by Dökmen (1988), and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory as developed by Coopersmith (1986) and adapted to Turkish by Turan Tufan (1987) were used as data collection tools in the study. Relational screening model, a descriptive methodology, was used in this study. Simple Linear Regression Analysis and T test techniques were utilized for the purpose of data analysis. As a result of the study, it was found that there was a positive and weak relation between the self-esteem and empathic skill of the undergraduate students of preschool education department. The empathic skills of children increase with heightened self-esteem, and the same decreases with lowered self-esteem. The empathic skill levels of the undergraduate students significantly differed by self-esteem levels. The mean empathic skills score of students with higher self-esteem was comparatively higher than that of the students with low self-esteem.