Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
7-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Dr. Jeff Cranmore
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Dr. John McIntyre
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Dr. Michael Papadimitriou
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore a perspective as observed by public middle school teachers on a lack of empathy demonstrated by public middle school students. The research analyzed how public middle school teachers in the southern region of Texas described their perception of how a lack of empathy demonstrated by public middle school students impacted students during the school day. The study involved 10 selected participants who participated in a semistructured open-ended interview on the Google Meet platform. The participants consisted of 90% female and 10% male, with a combined total of 91 years of experience teaching middle school students. The 10 participants responded to nine semistructured open-ended interview questions, which provided data for four research questions. The participants' responses were clustered to determine themes for RQ1-RQ4. The interview transcripts were coded for themes, and four themes emerged: Students lack empathy, sensitive girls lack empathy, girls are rejected more than boys for demonstrating a lack of empathy, and keeping friends is challenging. As a result of these findings, it would be beneficial for public middle school administrators to research and select a social skills curriculum that best meets the needs of their campus, to help students develop an understanding of how and when to demonstrate empathy skills when interacting with peers and adults. A social skills curriculum could help create a positive school climate and workplace environment as youth mature into adulthood.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hall, Gail P., "A Perspective as Observed by Public Middle School Teachers on a Lack of Empathy Demonstrated by Public Middle School Students" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1041.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1041
Comments
Recommendation Practices for Schools
Public, private, charter, or daycare schools may use the following suggestions to help increase empathy skills for adolescents. The study’s findings supported the suggestion of Syahrina et al. (2025) for schools to provide social skills intervention lessons, along with educating family households on the benefits of empathy characteristics and character traits. Social skills lessons should be aimed at increasing awareness and encouraging students to develop and practice empathy skills.