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Reading and Empathy: Qualitative insights into adolescents' experiences with fiction books.

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Title: Reading and Empathy: Qualitative insights into adolescents' experiences with fiction books.
Authors: Santi, Elena1 (AUTHOR) e.santi@sms.ed.ac.uk, Cebula, Katie1 (AUTHOR), McGeown, Sarah1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Literacy. Sep2025, Vol. 59 Issue 3, p304-313. 10p.
Subject Terms: *Empathy, *Reading, *Literacy, *Qualitative research, *Teenagers, Fiction, Thematic analysis, Social bonds
Abstract: Fiction books offer opportunities for readers to gain insight into fictional characters' perspectives, lives, and experiences, and in doing so, have the potential to support their empathy. This article provides novel insights from semi‐structured interviews with 37 (27 female, 10 male, aged 12–14 years) regular readers of fiction from two high schools in Scotland. A data‐driven inductive thematic analysis approach illustrated the cognitive and affective ways in which adolescents empathise with fictional characters; how feelings of empathy can transfer beyond fiction to real‐life others; how feelings of empathy can personally enrich readers and support their social relationships; and how book content and writing style can facilitate readers' empathy. However, while many adolescent readers shared examples of how reading had supported their empathy, others did not, suggesting that adolescent readers' may read for different purposes. Implications for teachers, librarians and others interested in supporting adolescents' literacy practices, experiences and empathy are discussed, in addition to future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Literacy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Reading and Empathy: Qualitative insights into adolescents' experiences with fiction books.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Santi%2C+Elena%22">Santi, Elena</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> e.santi@sms.ed.ac.uk</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cebula%2C+Katie%22">Cebula, Katie</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22McGeown%2C+Sarah%22">McGeown, Sarah</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Literacy%22">Literacy</searchLink>. Sep2025, Vol. 59 Issue 3, p304-313. 10p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Empathy%22">Empathy</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading%22">Reading</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Literacy%22">Literacy</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Qualitative+research%22">Qualitative research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teenagers%22">Teenagers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Fiction%22">Fiction</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Thematic+analysis%22">Thematic analysis</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+bonds%22">Social bonds</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Fiction books offer opportunities for readers to gain insight into fictional characters' perspectives, lives, and experiences, and in doing so, have the potential to support their empathy. This article provides novel insights from semi‐structured interviews with 37 (27 female, 10 male, aged 12–14 years) regular readers of fiction from two high schools in Scotland. A data‐driven inductive thematic analysis approach illustrated the cognitive and affective ways in which adolescents empathise with fictional characters; how feelings of empathy can transfer beyond fiction to real‐life others; how feelings of empathy can personally enrich readers and support their social relationships; and how book content and writing style can facilitate readers' empathy. However, while many adolescent readers shared examples of how reading had supported their empathy, others did not, suggesting that adolescent readers' may read for different purposes. Implications for teachers, librarians and others interested in supporting adolescents' literacy practices, experiences and empathy are discussed, in addition to future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Literacy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1111/lit.70006
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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        PageCount: 10
        StartPage: 304
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      – SubjectFull: Empathy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reading
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Literacy
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Qualitative research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Teenagers
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      – SubjectFull: Fiction
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      – SubjectFull: Thematic analysis
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      – SubjectFull: Social bonds
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            – D: 01
              M: 09
              Text: Sep2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
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