Abstract
The study explored the differences and inter-relationship of empathy, emotional intelligence and reactive proactive aggression among juvee delinquents and non-delinquents. Juvee delinquents (n = 186) from Borstal Jail, Faisalabad and Jaranwala and a matched control group (n = 186) was drawn from general population.Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (Ashraf, 2004), Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (Raine et al., 2006) and Emotional Intelligence Scale Youth version (Bar On, 2006) were used. As assumed, lower levels of empathy and poor emotional intelligence both significantly predicted higher levels of reactive and proactive aggression. Additionally, emotional intelligence proved to be a significant predictor of emotional empathy. Emotional empathy partially mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and aggression in the total sample. Results of t-test showed that delinquents had significantly poorer emotional intelligence, lower levels of empathy and higher levels of both reactive-proactive aggressions than non-delinquent group. The findings are discussed for the role of emotional competence in aggression and delinquency.