The authors’ aim in this article is to stimulate thinking and a new generation of scholarship on how compassion develops over the life span and may be cultivated to improve individual and societal health, well-being, and interpersonal relationships. The authors discuss conceptualizations of compassion, overview research on the development of compassion, and outline prospects for prevention and health-promotion efforts focused on the cultivation of compassion in children, adolescents, and caregivers. The authors note little programmatic work has been done with regard to providing compassion training to children and adolescents and see this as an area ripe for more exploration. The authors conclude by proposing future directions for research on compassion and human development.

本文作者的目的是激发人们对同情心如何在人生中发展的思考和新一代的学术研究，并可以培养这种同情心来改善个人和社会健康，幸福感以及人际关系。作者讨论了同情的概念，对同情的发展进行了概述研究，并概述了预防和健康促进工作的前景，这些努力的重点是在儿童，青少年和看护者中培养同情。作者指出，在为儿童和青少年提供同情培训方面，几乎没有进行任何计划性工作，并且认为这是进行更多探索的成熟时机。作者最后提出了同情心与人类发展研究的未来方向。