Associations between cognitive and affective empathy and internalizing symptoms in late childhood

JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

卷:290

Article

Bray, Katherine O.^1,2,3  Anderson, Vicki^3,4  Pantelis, Christos^1,2  Pozzi, Elena^1,2,5  Schwartz, Orli S.⁵  Vijayakumar, Nandita⁶  Richmond, Sally⁷  Deane, Camille⁶  Allen, Nicholas B.⁸  Whittle, Sarah^1,2 

[1] Univ Melbourne, Dept Psychiat, Melbourne Neuropsychiat Ctr MNC, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[2] Melbourne Hlth, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[3] Univ Melbourne, Melbourne Sch Psychol Sci, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[4] Murdoch Childrens Res Ctr, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[5] Univ Melbourne, Ctr Youth Mental Hlth, Melbourne Australia, Orygen, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[6] Deakin Univ, Sch Psychol, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[7] Monash Univ, Sch Psychol Sci, Turner Inst Brain & Mental Hlth, Melbourne, Vic, Australia

[8] Univ Oregon, Dept Psychol, Eugene, OR 97403 USA

关键词: Cognitive empathy;    Affective empathy;    Depressive symptoms;    Anxiety symptoms;    Mid;    late childhood;    Canonical correlation analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jad.2021.04.034

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: Empathy is a multidimensional construct, which includes cognitive and affective components. Studies in adults have demonstrated that both cognitive and affective empathy are associated with anxious and depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine these associations in childhood. Methods: Participants were 127 9- and 10-year-old children, recruited from the community. Self-report measures of cognitive and affective empathy, and internalizing symptoms were administered, as well as a task-based measure of cognitive empathy. Results: Canonical correlation analysis demonstrated that components of affective empathy, specifically affective sharing and empathic distress, were associated with internalizing (particularly social anxiety) symptoms (Rc = 0.63, non-parametric p < .001). Cognitive empathy was not associated with internalizing symptoms. Limitations: Most of our findings were based around self-report measures of empathy, which may not accurately reflect empathy ability. Conclusions: Findings suggests that children who share each other's emotions strongly are more likely to experience anxiety, particularly of a social nature.

【 授权许可】

Free