My friend Steven decided to become a doctor because he wanted to serve the poor. When it came time to
choose a specialty, however, he picked pediatrics because he said he had run out of patience for the self-destructive behavior he saw among some adult patients in underserved communities. With kids, he said, he never felt this way—it was easy for him to feel compassion for them.
Steven is not alone.
A preliminary study conducted by sociologists at Northeastern University and presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association last August suggests that Americans generally experience far more compassion for children—and even dogs—than for other adults.
The researchers, Jack Levin and Arnold Arluke, professors of sociology at Northeastern University, asked participants to describe their reactions to one of four short news stories. The stories—fictitious but presented to research subjects as genuine—were almost identical, each describing the same violent assault. The only thing that differed in each was the identity of the victim, which alternated amongst a human adult, a human baby, a grown dog, and a puppy.
Survey participants were most sympathetic towards the human baby, with compassion for both juvenile and adult dogs close behind. But, sympathy for adult humans was notably lower.
https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/opinion/adults-deserve-empathy-too/5940
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