Objective To assess the relationship between empathy ability and hope

and also analyze the mediating effect of self-esteem on such a relationship among university students.Methods A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in 280 students from 3 universities in Chongqing.The Empathy Ability Scale

Hope Scale

and Self-esteem Scale for University Students were used in this study

and the results were analyzed statistically.Results The mean score of Empathy Ability Scale was 3.19±0.47 among these university students;the scores of empathy identification

empathy understanding

and empathy response domains were 3.39±0.88

3.06±0.63 and 3.11±0.77

respectively.The mean scores of Hope Scale and Self-esteem Scale were 3.45±0.37 and 3.35±0.30

respectively.Correlation analysis showed that

the empathy ability of university students was positively correlated with self-esteem and hope（P<0.05）;the empathy identification and empathy understanding domains had a positive correlation with both self-esteem and hope（P<0.05）

while the empathy response domain was not significantly correlated with self-esteem or hope（P>0.05）.Besides

a positive correlation was observed between self-esteem and hope（P<0.05）.The test results for the mediating effect indicated that

the empathy ability of university students could positively predict their hope and self-esteem（P<0.01）

and their self-esteem could also positively predict their hope（P<0.01）.After the addition of the mediating variable self-esteem

the path coefficient between empathy ability and hope changed from 0.30 to 0.07

which was statistically insignificant（P>0.05）

indicating that self-esteem had a complete mediating effect on the relationship between empathy ability and hope

with a mediating effect/overall effect ratio of 93.00% .Conclusion The empathy ability of university students is positively correlated with both self-esteem and hope

and self-esteem is also positively correlated with hope.Self-esteem is a mediating variable between empathy ability and hope.