Varied Knowledge Journal
Vol. 4 No. 1 (2026): Varied Knowledge Journal, August 2026

The Influence of Family Harmony, Moral Values, and Peer Group on Students’ Empathy

Dennis Ghifari Akbar (Islamic Religious Education Study Program, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia)
Sadam Fajar Shodiq (Islamic Religious Education Study Program, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Aug 2026

Abstract

Empathy is one of the important social and emotional capacities that supports students’ interpersonal development. However, various social and environmental factors influence the development of empathy among adolescents. This study aims to examine the influence of family harmony, moral values, and peer groups on students’ empathy. A quantitative approach was employed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The study involved 350 students from a target population of 873 students at Muhammadiyah 2 Yogyakarta Middle School. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of 40 items measured on a four-point Likert scale. The results indicate that all measurement indicators met the requirements for validity and reliability, with outer loading values exceeding 0.70 and satisfactory discriminant validity. The structural model showed an R-square value of 0.668, indicating that family harmony, moral values, and peer groups collectively explained 66.8% of the variance in students’ empathy. Hypothesis testing revealed that family harmony, moral values, and peer groups each had a positive and significant effect on students’ empathy. These findings highlight the importance of supportive family environments, strong moral foundations, and positive peer interactions in fostering empathy among students. Therefore, educational stakeholders should strengthen these factors to support students’ character development in schools.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

vkj

Publisher

Subject

Religion Arts Humanities Computer Science & IT Economics, Econometrics & Finance Education Engineering Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Medicine & Pharmacology Social Sciences

Description

Varied Knowledge Journal (VKJ) is a multidisciplinary journal publish 4 issues a year with online version of E-ISSN 3026-5371 and can be accessed openly. This journal is a peer reviewed, open access, scientific and scholarly journal which publishes research papers, review papers, case reports, case ...