In previous research, children's empathy has been positively related to guilt and unrelated to shame. In the present study, it was predicted that guilt and empathy would have a curvilinear relationship, while shame and empathy were expected to be inversely related. Participating were 115 children: somewhat less than half were ages 8-9 years, while the remainder were 11-12 years old. Children completed the Test of Self-Conscious Affect--Children's Version (Tangney, Wagner, Burggraf, Gramzow, and Fletcher, 1990) and the Empathy Continuum (Strayer, 1993). Results were found to be conditional upon children's age and sex. Guilt and empathy were negatively related in younger boys; in all other groups guilt and empathy were positively related. Shame and empathy were negatively related in younger girls, and positively related in all other groups. Results suggested that guilt and shame undergo notable change in middle childhood. (Contains 11 references.) (Author/EV)