Empathy and Mental Health of Preschool Teachers: A Latent Profile Analysis

Purpose: This research, grounded in the self-other oriented empathy theoretical framework, aimed to explore the classification of empathy and its relationship with mental health among preschool teachers. Methods: A total of 4345 preschool teachers participated in the study. Mental health was assessed using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90), and empathy was measured with the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-C). Data were collected through a comprehensive preschool education service platform. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was employed to identify subgroups of preschool teachers by self- and other empathy pattern types. Descriptive statistics, bivariate cross-tabulations, and multinomial logistic regression were used to characterize each profile while quantifying associations with mental health. Results: A four-profile model was identified as the best fit in this latent profile analysis: the largest profile of preschool teachers was characterized by moderate self- and other-oriented empathy (46.5%), a second profile was characterized by high self- and other- oriented empathy (25.2%), a third profile was characterized by high other-oriented and low self-oriented empathy (20.8%), and the smallest profile was characterized by both low self- and other-oriented empathy (7.5%). Significant differences in mental health were observed between the latent profile. The high empathy profile exhibited the highest level of mental health risk, while the other-oriented groups showed the lowest level. Conclusion: There are four latent profiles of empathy in preschool teachers, and the profiles of empathy are related to mental health.