Kontakt X:X | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2026.038

Personality, empathy, and students' attitudes toward wheelchair usersSociální vědy ve zdraví - původní práce

Liudmila Vilchynskaya ORCID...¹, Andriej Szpakow ORCID...^{2, *}, Rafał Modzelewski ORCID...³, Dorota Sokołowska ORCID...⁴, Ľubica Bánovčinová ORCID...⁵, Lucia Demjanovič Kendrová ORCID...⁶, Jozef Babečka ORCID...⁷, Jana Juříková ORCID...⁸, Andrea Pokorná ORCID...⁹, Yelena Loginovich ORCID...¹⁰, Aliaksandr Shpakau¹¹

¹ Małopolska Occupational Medicine Center, Kraków, Poland

² International Academy of Applied Sciences in Lomza, Łomża, Poland

³ Medical University, Department of Foreign Languages, Białystok, Poland

⁴ Eastern European University of Applied Sciences in Bialystok, Białystok, Poland

⁵ Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava, Martin, Slovak Republic

⁶ University of Prešov, Faculty of Health Care, Prešov, Slovak Republic

⁷ Catholic University in Ružomberok, Ružomberok, Slovak Republic

⁸ Masaryk University, Faculty of Sports Studies, Department of Physical Activities and Health Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

⁹ Masaryk University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Health Sciences, Brno, Czech Republic

¹⁰ Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Institute of Biology System and Genetic Research, Kaunas, Lithuania

¹¹ Independent Researcher, Kraków, Poland

Introduction: This study investigates the relationship between personality traits (extraversion, introversion, neuroticism), empathy levels, and attitudes toward wheelchair users among 4,474 university students from Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Slovakia.

Methods: Data were collected via an anonymous online survey (2024-2025) using the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) for personality, the KRE-II Scale for empathy, and the Multidimensional Attitudes Scale toward Persons with Disabilities (MAS) for social attitudes.

Results: Extraversion was significantly associated with higher empathy, while neuroticism correlated with specific aspects of emotional sensitivity. High empathy (62% of respondents) was linked to more positive attitudes toward wheelchair users; overall, 70% of students reported positive attitudes. Notably, Ukrainian students exhibited higher empathy (75%) and more positive attitudes toward wheelchair users (78%).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that personality traits, particularly extraversion and neuroticism, significantly influence empathy and attitudes toward wheelchair users. Cross-national variations highlight the interplay between individual dispositions and broader sociopolitical contexts, underscoring the potential for educational interventions to foster empathy and supportive attitudes toward individuals with mobility limitations.

Klíčová slova: Central and Eastern Europe; Disability; Empathy; Personality traits; Social attitudes; Students

Střet zájmů:

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Vloženo: 11. prosinec 2025; Revidováno: 27. březen 2026; Přijato: 15. červen 2026; Zveřejněno online: 15. červen 2026