There are intraindividual differences in empathic tendencies across situations. Empathy research, however, has traditionally focused on differences between people. This between-person approach does not necessarily describe the structure of empathy for individual people. Additionally, it is unclear whether the valence of affect perceived in the target person moderates the empathic process. Through a microlongitudinal experience sampling study (N = 117 adults, Nobservations = 6,307) we investigated within-person variation in empathy. Applying a variance component analysis, we found substantial individual differences in affect-specific empathy. Then, using multilevel structural equation modeling, we developed a within-person and between-person model of affect-specific empathy, identifying different factor correlation patterns at the within-person and between-person levels. For the within-person level, participants mostly empathized cognitively and affectively either for positive or negative affect, but rarely at the same time. For the between-person level, we found separate affect-specific dimensions for affective empathy, indicating that in general, individuals report affective empathy for one affect (e.g., positive) more than the other (e.g., negative). However, there was no affect-specific differentiation for cognitive empathy. Beyond the average within-person model for all participants combined, we found large differences between persons in the extent to which they simultaneously experienced positive and/or negative affective and/or cognitive empathy. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Background Problematic internet and smartphone use are significant health challenges for contemporary adolescents. However, their mutual relationship is unclear because studies investigating these phenomena are scarce. The present study aimed to investigate the psychological risks and protective factors associated with problematic internet and smartphone use. Method A representative sample of Slovak adolescents (N = 4070, Mage = 14.38, SDage = 0.77, 50.5% girls) from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children project was analyzed using network analysis separately for boys and girls. Results The results showed weak (for boys) and moderate (for girls) associations between problematic internet use and problematic smartphone use. Risk factors showed stronger associations with problematic internet use than problematic smartphone use, with the exception of fear of missing out, which was strongly associated with problematic smartphone use. The central nodes were externalizing problems for boys and internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and resilience for girls. Conclusion The study concluded that while problematic internet use and problematic smartphone use are somewhat related, they differ at the psychological level. In addition, the phenomena are rather different between boys and girls.