Empathy and Depression Among Early Adolescents: The Moderating Role of Parental Support

Abstract

Early adolescence is a period of development of emotional competence, but also of increasing vulnerability for the onset of depressive symptoms. While literature underscored that empathy promotes social relationships and psychological well-being over the life course, the possible role of high empathy levels as a risk factor for depression has been under investigated, especially among early adolescents. Moreover, although parenting practices are known to influence both empathy and depression in adolescence, few studies investigated if parenting moderates the relationship between empathy and depression. Therefore, the aims of the study were: (1) to investigate the relationships between affective and cognitive empathy and depression; (2) to investigate the moderating role of perceived paternal and maternal support on the associations between affective and cognitive empathy and depression; (3) to examine if the relationships among affective and cognitive empathy, maternal and paternal support and depression vary as a function of early adolescents’ gender. The study involved 386 Italian students aged between 12 and 14 ( M age = 13, SD = 0.3, 47.9% girls) who completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, including measures of cognitive and affective empathy, paternal and maternal support and depression. Results showed that with a mean level of affective and cognitive empathy, higher maternal support was related to lower depression for girls, whereas higher paternal support was related to lower depression for both boys and girls. Both maternal and paternal support moderated the relation between empathy and depression. In particular, maternal support moderated the non-linear relation between affective empathy and depression and the relation was further moderated by early adolescents’ gender: boys with low affective empathy reported lower depression in a context of high maternal support. Paternal support moderated the linear relation between cognitive empathy and depression, independently of early adolescents’ gender: boys and girls with high cognitive empathy reported higher depression in a context of low paternal support. The results of the study suggested that high empathy might be a risk factor for depression during early adolescence and mothers and fathers have a differential moderating role in relation to the affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy, also in relation to early adolescents’ gender.

The role of empathy in the mechanism linking parental psychological control to emotional reactivities to COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study among Chinese emerging adults

“…Results suggested that those with higher personal distress showed higher level of negative emotions and lower level of positive emotions. This lends further support to linking the personal distress to internalizing symptoms ( Calandri et al, 2019 ; Neumann et al, 2016 ; Shu, Hassell, Weber, Ochsner, & Mobbs, 2017 ). Individuals who excessively share negative emotions of others may also be immersed in negative affect during COVID-19, thus experiencing depression, anxiety, and stress together with less vigor and positive emotions to some extent.…”

“…Second, personal distress (alternatively labeled empathic stress) represents experience of “self-oriented” negative feelings of distress in reaction to another's state or condition ( Davis, 1983 ; Schreiter et al, 2013 ). Affective empathy may represent risk factors for depression ( Calandri, Graziano, Testa, Cattelino, & Begotti, 2019 ; MacDonald & Price, 2019 ) and anxiety ( Gambin and Sharp, 2016 , Gambin and Sharp, 2018a ) when present at extreme levels or in particular contexts. Specifically, one study claimed that no effect of empathic concern was found ( Schreiter et al, 2013 ).…”

Depressive Symptoms and Loneliness in Early Adolescence: The Role of Empathy and Emotional Self-Efficacy

“…Despite many studies highlighting a positive role of empathy with respect to adolescents’ adjustment, contrasting results emerge when considering the relationships between high levels of empathy and depressive symptoms. Although some studies suggested that deficits in empathy were related to higher depression among adolescents (Domes et al, 2016; Schreiter, Pijnenborg, & Aan Het Rot, 2013), other research suggested that also high levels of empathy might expose individuals to internalizing problems (Calandri et al, 2019). In particular, some studies found that extreme sympathy and compassion, as a response to other people’s suffering, may lead to consequent prolonged and exhausting empathic reactions or “empathic fatigue” (Oakley, Knafo, & McGrath, 2012).…”

A Parental Competence Scale: Dimensions and Their Association With Adolescent Outcomes

“…It is also relevant to study the teaching of social values by parents, because adolescents' social dimension is a part of their psychological adjustment, and it appears to predict future adulthood competences (Allemand et al, 2019;Calandri et al, 2019;Bloom and Lambie, 2020). Social values are understood as "criteria shared by the majority of a society in an ideal sense, all of which lead them to the better society.…”