Despite the absence of overt emotion for the adult experiencing distress, young children expressed worried looks and subsequently attempted to share or help the person in need and showed individual indications of distress. Due to the egocentric nature of young children, theories of mind regarding empathic and selfish motivations for prosocial behavior have been examined for children aged 36 to 66 months (Ginsburg et al., 2003). Children's reactions to the scenarios suggest that most children could distinguish between empathic and selfish motivations of prosocial behavior and most gave empathy-related responses. Further debates about egocentrism have been made regarding children's emotional and behavioral responses to incidents and whether their empathic responses qualify as guilt-driven or not (Garner, 2003). The child's efforts to understand the emotional state of the “victim” are related to his ability to use internal state language. Therefore, children who are encouraged to discuss inner feelings or who are in an environment where emotions are a topic of conversation are more likely to show true empathic responses to incidents. Similarly, when their family talk consists of a wide range of feelings and conversational disputes, 3-year-olds demonstrate greater frequency of engaging in feelings-related discussions as well as a greater ability to judge the emotions of others. (Dunn, Brown, & Beardsall, 1991). It could be argued that greater empathy in children of divorce may be the result of early exposure to the expression of feelings coupled with additional efforts by the child to comfort one or both parents in the throes of desperation. There is no doubt that for everyone in the family family, of...... middle of paper...... Kelly, J.B. (1974). The effects of parental divorce: the adolescent experience. In E. J. Anthony, C. C. Koupernik, E. J. Anthony, C. C. Koupernik (Eds.), The child in his family: Children at psychiatric risk (pp. 479-505). Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons.Whiteside, M.F. & Becker, B.J. (2000). Parenting factors and child postdivorce adjustment: A meta-analysis with implications for parenting arrangements. Journal of Family Psychology, 14(1), 5-26. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.14.1.5Zill, N., Morrison, D. R., & Coiro, M. J. (1993). Long-term effects of parental divorce on parent-child relationships, adjustment, and outcomes in young adulthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 91-103. Zimet, G. D., Dahlem, N. W., Zimet, S. G., & Farley, G. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of personality assessment, 52, 30-41.