Poster #46 - Empathy and Parenthood: The Moderating role of Maternal Trait Empathy on Parental Burnout

• In Event: Poster Session 20

Abstract

The ability to empathize with others enables us to effectively interact with each other and may have specifically evolved to support parental roles and caregiving. The relationship between parenting and trait empathy is little understood as previous research focused on empathy exclusively in the context of parenting, e.g., parental sensitivity. Here we aimed to understand how trait empathy may moderate the association between child's negative emotionality and parental burnout.
Two cohorts were examined (1) parents of infants (10-18 months old; N=203) and (2) parents of children (3-10 years old, N=201). Parents filled out a battery of online questionnaires assessing maternal empathy, parental burnout and child temperament. We found that the relationship between higher levels of negative emotionality and parental burnout is moderated by specific aspects of maternal emotional empathy. Our finding suggests that maternal emotional empathy act as a buffer against parental burnout, when faced with child's characteristics that incur higher parental demands.

Authors

• Tamar Kadosh Laor, Ben Gurion University of the Negev
  Presenting Author

• Liat Israeli-Ran, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

• Ido Shalev, Ben Gurion University

• Florina Uzefovsky, Ben Gurion University in the Negev