Empathy as a “Risky Strength” for Children’s Behavioral Problems in Negative Home Environments

• In Event: Parenting, family and moral development

Abstract

Background. Empathy is an important socio-emotional ability, consisting of two components: cognitive empathy (CE)- the ability to recognize and understand other's emotions, and emotional empathy (EE)- the ability to share in other people’s emotions while maintaining a self-other distinction (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004). While empathy might be an adaptive trait in the context of a typical home environment, it might also be maladaptive in a negative environment (Zahn-Waxler & Van Hulle 2012). Previous studies (e.g., Tully & Donohue, 2017) showed that for children of chronically depressed mothers, high levels of empathy towards maternal expressions of distress were associated with higher internalizing problems. The current study aimed to expand these findings by (1) examining parental psychopathology load, beyond depression; (2) examining both internalizing and externalizing problems as child outcomes; and (3) examining general empathic responding, beyond responses to the mother's emotional cues.
Methods. Participants were dyads of children aged 2-5 years (N=51, Mage=3.5) and a parent. Children’s CE and EE were examined using a simulation of distress (Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow et al., 1992); parents reported on their psychopathological symptoms and a general psychopathology score was calculated (BSI; Derogatis, 1975); and parents reported on their children’s externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991; Kristensen, Henriksen, & Bilenberg, 2010).
We used hierarchical multiple linear regression to test the hypotheses that the association between children’s empathy and behavioral problems was moderated by parental psychopathology. Parents’ psychopathology (3-levels) served as the predictor, and children's CE and EE scores were used as moderators in two separate analyses.
Results. As hypothesized, parental psychopathology moderates the association between CE and externalizing problems (ΔR2=12.9%, F(2,44)=3.33, p=.045). A similar trend was shown when parental psychopathology was examined as a moderator of the association between CE and internalizing problems, although this effect was only marginally significant (ΔR2=10.2%, F(2,44)=2.69, p=.078). Specifically, for higher parental psychopathology, a higher level of CE was positively related to higher levels of children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. In contrast, when the parents’ psychopathology was low, higher levels of CE were related to lower levels of children’s problems. The trend was similar both for externalizing and for internalizing problems, and it may suggest that no effect was found for internalizing problems due to the small sample size (see Figure 1). No such effects were found for EE.
Conclusions. These findings support the claim that empathic tendencies, and particularly the cognitive component of empathy, serve as a risk factor for behavioral problems in children in negative family environments, and as a protective factor in positive environments. Additionally, our findings support the notion that it is not the empathic response to the parents, but rather empathy as a trait, which serves as a risk/protective factor.

Authors

• Sappir Saad
  Non-Presenting Author

• Adi Meidan, Ben-Gurion University
  Presenting Author

• Adi Tomer, Ben Gurion University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ramon Birnbaum, Ben Gurion University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Florina Uzefovsky, Ben Gurion University in the Negev
  Non-Presenting Author