How parental levels of empathy and alexithymia influence their perception of child's behavior

Mensi, Martina Maria; Gasparini, Linda; Chiappedi, Matteo; Guerini, Franca Rosa; Orlandi, Marika; Rogantini, Chiara; Balottin, Umberto

doi:10.23736/s0026-4946.20.05609-1

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Peter also concluded that parents’ alexithymia is associated with repetitive stereotyped behaviors of autistic children ( Szatmari et al, 2008 ). It has been proved that most people with alexithymia have a neurotic personality and are able to perceive more negative emotions (like depression and anxiety; Heshmati and Pellerone, 2019 ; Mensi et al, 2020 ; Stability of Alexithymia and Its Relationships with the “big Five” Factors, Temperament, Character, and Attachment Style—PubMed, n.d. ). Based on the existing evidence, it seems to be reasonable to conclude that alexithymia is a risk factor for parental burnout.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mediating role of perceived social support: alexithymia and parental burnout in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Lin¹,

Wang²,

Lin³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundParental burnout is a concept that reflects the emotional exhaustion and emotional distance of parents from children due to their inability to cope with the pressure of parenting. It has been confirmed that parents of autistic children are at higher risk for parental burnout. Additional research has suggested a relationship between parental burnout and parents’ personality traits. However, the relationship between alexithymia, an independent personality factor, with parental burnout is little to none.ObjectiveTo look into the connection between parental burnout and alexithymia among parents of autistic children.MethodThree hundred and one parents were approached for recruitment and data were collected from 203 parents through a cross-sectional survey assessing parental burnout, alexithymia status, and perceived social support. Because the data is not normally distributed, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient rho(p) was used to assess the correlation between the variables; and then using AMOS to analyze the mediating effects of perceived social support and the moderating effect of gender.ResultThe result showed that (1) There is a negative association between alexithymia with parental burnout (β = 0.6, p < 0.01), while perceive social support was the negative predictor of alexithymia (β = −0.45, p < 0.01) and parental burnout (β = −0.26, p < 0.01); (2) perceive social support partially mediated the relationship between alexithymia and parental burnout of parents of autistic children, which can explain 16.3% of the total effect; (3) Gender plays a moderating role in the first half of the indirect effect of alexithymia on parental burnout, as evidenced by the significant difference in path coefficients between the male and female models (male: β = −0.10, p < 0.05; female: β = −0.60, p < 0.05).ConclusionHealth professionals and policymakers should be aware of parental burnout among parents of autistic children in China and take early intervention steps. Furthermore, they should recognize the negative impact of alexithymia and the positive impact of social support when developing plans to alleviate parental burnout in children with autism, with a particular focus on mothers with alexithymia, who are more likely to experience low social support and burnout than fathers with alexithymia.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mediating role of perceived social support: alexithymia and parental burnout in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Lin¹,

Wang²,

Lin³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Alexithymia and Facial Mimicry in Response to Infant and Adult Affect-Expressive Faces

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Facial mimicry is the automatic tendency to imitate facial expressions of emotions. Alexithymia is associated with a reduced facial mimicry ability to affect expressions of adults. There is evidence that the baby schema may influence this process. In this study it was tested experimentally whether facial mimicry of the alexithymic group (AG) is different from the control group (CG) in response to dynamic facial affect expressions of children and adults. A multi-method approach (20-point Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia) was used for assessing levels of alexithymia. From 3503 initial data sets, two groups of 38 high and low alexithymic individuals without relevant mental or physical diseases were matched regarding age, gender, and education. Facial mimicry was induced by presentation of naturalistic affect-expressive video sequences (fear, sadness, disgust, anger, and joy) taken from validated sets of faces from adults (Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces) and children (Picture-Set of Young Children’s Affective Facial Expressions). The videos started with a neutral face and reached maximum affect expression within 2 s. The responses of the groups were measured by facial electromyographic activity (fEMG) of corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles. Differences in fEMG response (4000 ms) were tested in a variance analytical model. There was one significant main effect for the factor emotion and four interaction effects for the factors group × age, muscle × age, muscle × emotion, and for the triple interaction muscle × age × emotion. The participants of AG showed a decreased fEMG activity in response to the presented faces of adults compared to the CG but not for the faces of children. The affect-expressive faces of children induced enhanced zygomatic and reduced corrugator muscle activity in both groups. Despite existing deficits in the facial mimicry of alexithymic persons, affect-expressive faces of children seem to trigger a stronger positive emotional involvement even in the AG.

show abstract

How parental levels of empathy and alexithymia influence their perception of child's behavior

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

The mediating role of perceived social support: alexithymia and parental burnout in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

The mediating role of perceived social support: alexithymia and parental burnout in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder

Alexithymia and Facial Mimicry in Response to Infant and Adult Affect-Expressive Faces

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About