Associations of affective and cognitive empathy with depressive symptoms among a sample of Chinese college freshmen

Zhang, Ming; Wang, Shaishai; Wang, Zheng; Peng, Xiaoqin; Fei, Wenjing; Geng, Yiran; Zhang, Tianyang

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2021.05.111

Cited by 23 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…The cognitive component of empathy is the understanding of the emotional state of others (Cognitive empathy; Abramson et al, 2020 ). Large volumes of research demonstrated that emotional and cognitive empathy are both associated with depression ( Tully et al, 2016 ; Bennik et al, 2019 ; Chen et al, 2021 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy and depression among a Chinese sample: The moderating role of rumination and attentional shift

et al. 2022

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BackgroundAlthough previous studies have explored the moderating role of emotional regulation strategies in the relationship between empathy and depression, no studies have studied the moderating role of attentional control in the relationship between empathy and depression. To address this research gap, the present study investigated the moderating roles of rumination and attentional control in the relationship between empathy and depression.Methods423 participants filled out questionnaires anonymously, including Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Attention Control Scale, Self-rating Depression Scale, and Rumination Response Scale. PROCESS macro for SPSS was used for moderating effect analysis.ResultsRumination and attentional shift moderated the relationship between emotional empathy and depression. Specifically, the lower rumination or the higher attentional shift, the stronger the negative association between emotional empathy and depression. Attentional shift moderated the relationship between cognitive empathy and depression, and cognitive empathy was significantly associated with depression only among participants whose attentional shift is high.ConclusionThe study showed that rumination and attentional shift play important roles in the relationship between empathy and depression. The findings implicated that the positive role of good emotional regulation strategies and executive function for individuals in the relationship between empathy and depression.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy and depression among a Chinese sample: The moderating role of rumination and attentional shift

et al. 2022

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“…The incidence of depressive symptoms is increasing annually [ 1 – 3 ]. According to the latest statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence rate of depression in China is 6.9% [ 1 ], indicating that China has one of the highest burdens of depressive symptoms worldwide [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Subclinical depressive symptoms are risk factors for clinical depression [ 5 , 6 ], which constitutes a depressive state that does not meet the DSM-IV criteria for the symptoms or course of major depression [ 1 , 7 ]. Subclinical depression has a high incidence in the general population, ranging from 1.4 to 17.2% in the community.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social dysfunction is present not only in patients with clinical depression (MDD) but also in patients with subclinical depressive symptoms [ 5 , 7 ]. Some studies have shown that abnormal empathy in patients with subclinical depression may contribute to the development of MDD [ 1 , 5 , 6 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies [ 1 , 6 ] have observed gender differences in empathy, with women generally showing more compassionate care. There are also gender differences in subclinical depressive symptoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parental care and depressive symptoms among Chinese medical students: roles of empathy and gender

et al. 2022

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Background Medical students in China who face the dual pressure of study and employment tend to experience subclinical depressive symptoms. Parental care plays an important direct and indirect role in the psychological development of medical students, and the extent and mechanism of this role urgently need to be studied and discussed. Methods After simple random sampling and screening of valid questionnaires, data from a total of 924 people were used. The participants completed the parental bonding instrument, self-rating depression scale, Chinese version of the Jefferson empathy scale-medical student edition and self-rating anxiety scale to evaluate parental care, empathy, depressive symptoms and anxiety. The data were statistically processed using a descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and test of moderated mediation. Results Maternal care had a significant negative predictive effect on depressive symptoms among medical students. Strong maternal care can reduce the occurrence of depressive symptoms in medical students. Empathy played a positive mediating role such that both types of empathy could alleviate the effect of weak maternal care on the depressive symptoms of medical students. However, neither cognitive empathy nor affective empathy played a mediating role in the relationship between paternal care and depressive symptoms. Nevertheless, the relationship between maternal care and empathy was moderated by the medical students’ gender. Conclusions The effect of this relationship on female medical students deserves special attention. The results of this study provide a reference and basis for the adjustment of medical education. This study could also help in the design of effective psychological intervention measures to reduce the degree of depressive symptoms and enhance personal empathy.

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Item response theory analysis of the University Personality Inventory in medical students

Sugawara

Yasuda

Sayama

et al. 2023

Neuropsychopharm Rep

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AimYoung adulthood has been recognized as an important period for the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The University Personality Inventory (UPI), a mental health questionnaire for young adulthood, is widely used to screen university students in East Asia. However, dichotomous systems do not allow respondent choose responses other than two options on each symptom. This study employed item response theory (IRT) to examine the properties and performance of UPI items for mental health problems.MethodsJapanese medical students (n = 1185) participated in this study, and the UPI was completed at the time of university admission. The two‐parameter IRT model was used to assess the measurement characteristics of the UPI items.ResultsAmong all participants, 35.4% (420/1185) had total UPI score of 21 or more, and 10.6% (126/1185) indicated that they had the idea of wanting to die (item 25). For further IRT analysis, unidimensionality was confirmed by exploratory factor analysis, in which the primary factor accounted for 39.6% of the variance. The scale has sufficient discrimination power. In the test characteristic curves, the rising slopes of the lines were between θ 0 and 2.ConclusionThe UPI is useful to assess mild or moderate mental health problems, while precision may decline among individuals experiencing both little and extremely high levels of stress. Our findings provide a basis for identifying people who have mental health concerns.

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Associations of affective and cognitive empathy with depressive symptoms among a sample of Chinese college freshmen

Cited by 23 publications

References 40 publications

Empathy and depression among a Chinese sample: The moderating role of rumination and attentional shift

Empathy and depression among a Chinese sample: The moderating role of rumination and attentional shift

Parental care and depressive symptoms among Chinese medical students: roles of empathy and gender

Item response theory analysis of the University Personality Inventory in medical students

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