This study was conducted to examine children’s empathic tendencies with respect to their gender and to investigate the relationship between empathic tendencies of children and empathic skills of parents. The study has been conducted on a sample of 261 people, composed of 87 children from the grades ranging between third and fifth, including 47 female and 40 male children who attend Pamukkale Educational Foundation PEV Primary School in the Denizli province of Turkey and their mothers (87) and fathers (87). In order to determine children’s empathic tendency, “KA-Sİ Scale of Emphatic Tendency for Children and Adolescents – Children Form” developed by Kaya & Siyez (2010) has been applied. In order to evaluate empathic ability of the parents, “Empathic Ability Scale-B Form” developed by Dökmen (1988, 1990) has been applied. The results showed that a significant difference in favor of girls existed in the “Emotional Sensitivity” and “Cognitive Sensitivity” dimensions as well as the “Total Empathic Tendency Score” obtained from the KA-Sİ Emphatic Tendency Scale for Children and Adolescents – Children’s Form. (p<0.05). The data were analyzed by using “T-Test” and “Pearson Correlation Test”. The research results have revealed that the gender of the child has an influence on the empathic tendencies of children, but not on the emphatic skills of both parents. It has also been determined that although there is not a correlation between the empathic tendency scores of children and the empathic skill scores of parents, there is a positive correlation between the empathic skill scores of mothers and those of fathers.

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