Purpose: This descriptive correlation study was done to identify mediation effects of cognitive and emotional empathy between attitudes to dementia and pain assessment by nursing students caring for patients with dementia. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to third and fourth-year students enrolled at one university college in Korea and who had completed a clinical experience (n=183). The students completed self-report measures on attitudes to dementia, pain assessment for patients with dementia and empathy. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and mediation analysis. Mediation analysis was conducted using SPSS Macro Process V.2.1 to examine mediation effect of cognitive and emotional empathy on the relationship between attitudes to dementia and assessment of pain. Results: A significant positive correlations was demonstrated for attitudes to dementia with cognitive empathy and pain assessment. Cognitive empathy was positively correlated with pain assessment. The specific indirect effect through cognitive empathy was β=.08 (CI 0.01~0.17). However, emotional empathy was not a mediator of indirect attitudes to dementia or pain assessment for patients with dementia. Conclusion: In order to manage pain in patients with dementia, nursing students must have positive attitudes to dementia, empathy, and accurate assessment of pain.