Empathy and Violence Tendency: The Mediating Roles of Emotional Intelligence and Masculine Behaviour

Abstract

Violence represents a significant psychosocial problem affecting both individuals and societies. This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between empathy and violence tendency and investigated the mediating roles of emotional intelligence, emotional regulation, and masculine behaviour dimensions in this relationship within the sociocultural context of Türkiye. Data were collected from 703 individuals aged 18 and over through an online questionnaire between October and December 2024 and analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The findings indicated that empathy was negatively associated with violence tendency and positively related to emotional intelligence and emotional regulation. Emotional regulation demonstrated a significant negative relationship with violence tendency, whereas selected masculine behaviour dimensions, particularly independent lifestyle/exaggerated self-confidence and control, were positively associated with violence tendency. The proposed model explained 29% of the variance in violence tendency, highlighting the role of emotional and sociocultural behavioural factors. By examining empathy, emotional competencies, and selected masculine-coded behavioural dimensions together in the Turkish context, this study contributes to the literature by showing that individual emotional capacities and control-oriented behavioural tendencies may have distinct associations with violence tendency.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2026 · DOI ↗