In U.S., women are more likely than men to report feeling empathy for those suffering

January 28, 2022

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The gist:

The Center recently asked Americans about their thoughts and feelings regarding human suffering in light of the pandemic and other recent tragedies,The Stats:

• Two-thirds of women (66%) say that in the past year, they have personally thought “a lot” or “some” about big questions such as the meaning of life, whether there is any purpose to suffering and why terrible things happen to people, compared with 55% of men who report the same.

• When seeing or hearing about terrible things happening to people, women are much more likely than men (71% vs. 53%) to say they often feel sad for those who are suffering.

• A larger share of women (46%) than men (34%) report often feeling the desire to help those suffering. And when hearing about bad news, women are more inclined than men to say they often feel thankful for the good things in their own lives (76% vs. 67%).

• Around a quarter of women (27%), compared with a smaller share of men (20%), often feel the need to tune out the news because it’s just too much to take.

Some research points in that direction. Specifically, research by Christov-Moore. “Our data suggest that females are better at feeling others’ pain, at really getting the feeling that the other person is having right now. Female participants in the study showed relatively higher activation in a sensory area of the brain associated with pain than their male counterparts.”

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