The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effects of self-esteem on the relation between mother's child-rearing attitudes and infant's empathy ability. The subjects were 151 infant who 4-5 year-olds attending kindergarten in gwangju and their mothers. Results of the study are summarized as follows. First, with respect to mother's child-rearing attitude, infant's self-esteem and empathy ability by gender, there was no statistically significant difference. But, with respect to mother's child-rearing attitudes, self-esteem and infant's empathy ability by age, it shows statistically significant difference. That is, mother's rejection or controlled attitudes of 4 years-old was higher than 5 years-old. And self-esteem of 4 years-old was higher than 5 years-old. In addition. increasing age was increased empathy ability. Second, infant's empathy ability according to mother's affectionate attitude was partial mediated by self-esteem.