Empathy in adolescence: Relations with emotion awareness and social roles

Empathy's Crucial Role: Unraveling Impact on Students Bullying Behavior - A Scoping Review

Bullying behavior among students is a serious problem in the educational context and has an impact on victims and perpetrators. Bullying has serious impacts, both emotionally and psychologically, especially for victims who are vulnerable to stress, depression, and even in extreme cases, can lead to suicidal tendencies. Empathy is a key factor in responding to bullying situations. So empathy is an important aspect in reducing bullying behavior. The aim of this research is to explore the role of empathy in bullying behavior in students. The scoping review method was used in this research. The keywords used are empathy, bullying, and students. Search for articles in three databases, namely CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus. The inclusion criteria in the article search were samples are students (elementary schools students until high schools students) English language, discussion of empathy, publication of articles in the last 10 years (2014-2023), and original research. Grey literature excluded in this scoping review. Data analysis using thematic analysis. The authors found 13 articles that discussed the influence of empathy on bullying behavior in students. Findings from the articles analyzed highlight the complexity of the interactions between affective and cognitive empathy and students behavior in the context of bullying. Students with high levels of empathy tend to be more active in defending victims of bullying, while low levels of empathy tend to reinforce bullying behavior or passive bystander attitudes. Intervention programs that include social and emotional skills training, awareness campaigns, and learning approaches that promote tolerance and respect for diversity can have the potential to reduce the incidence of bullying in students. Increasing understanding and empathetic responses can be an effective strategy in addressing bullying problems in schools and communities.

Me, Myself, and I: Neural Activity for Self versus Other across Development

Although adults and children differ in self-vs.-other perception, a developmental perspective on this discriminative ability at the brain level is missing. This study examined neural activation for self-vs.-other in a sample of 39 participants spanning four different age groups, from 4-year-olds to adults. Self-related stimuli elicited higher neural activity within two brain regions related to self-referential thinking, empathy, and social cognition processes. Second, stimuli related to 'others' (i.e., unknown peer) elicited activation within nine additional brain regions. These regions are associated with multisensory processing, somatosensory skills, language, complex visual stimuli, self-awareness, empathy, theory of mind, and social recognition. Overall, activation maps were gradually increasing with age. However, patterns of activity were non-linear within the medial cingulate cortex for 'self' stimuli and within the left middle temporal gyrus for 'other' stimuli in 7-10-year-old participants. In both cases, there were no self-vs.-other differences. It suggests a critical period where the perception of self and others are similarly processed. Furthermore, 11-19-year-old participants showed no differences between others and self within the left inferior orbital gyrus, suggesting less distinction between self and others in social learning. Understanding the neural bases of self-vs.-other discrimination during development can offer valuable insights into how social contexts can influence learning processes during development, such as when to introduce peer-to-peer teaching or group learning.

The Contribution of Bullying Involvement and Alexithymia to Somatic Complaints in Preadolescents

Somatic complaints during preadolescence are connected to individual and contextual factors, and extant research highlights the relevance of alexithymia and bullying involvement. In this cross-sectional study, we explored the joint and unique influence of bullying involvement-as perpetrators, victims, or outsiders-and alexithymia on somatic complaints in a sample of 179 Italian middle-school students (aged 11-15). Findings revealed an indirect association between bullying perpetration and victimization complaints through alexithymia. We also found a significant direct association between victimization and somatic complaints. No significant association between outsider behavior and somatization was found. Our results revealed that bullying perpetration and victimization could increase youths' risk for somatic complaints and clarify one of the processes underlying this association. The current findings further emphasize the relevance of emotional awareness for youths' well-being and propose that implementing social-emotional skills might prevent some of the adverse consequences of being involved in bullying episodes.

Associations between adolescents' empathy and prosocial attributes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

Adolescence is a formative period of social development. Adolescents have experienced considerable changes in their lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a longitudinal study to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents' prosocial attributes and empathy, as well as their longitudinal bilateral relationships.

METHODS

A total of 2,510 students from five junior schools in Sichuan Province were recruited via random cluster sampling. Data were collected in December 2019 (Wave 1, before the outbreak of the pandemic) and July 2020 (Wave 2, during the pandemic) in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Prosocial attributes and empathy were measured with the Positive Youth Development Scale (GPYDS) subscale and Chinese Empathy Scale, respectively.

RESULTS

During the pandemic, both empathy and prosocial attributes decreased significantly from 49.89 (9.12) and 49.89 (8.80) before to 48.29 (8.72) and 49.39 (9.26) (p < 0.001), respectively. A higher level of empathy at Wave 1 significantly predicted higher prosocial attributes at Wave 2 (β = 0.173, SE = 0.021, t = 8.430, p < 0.001). A lower prosocial attributes score predicted a significantly lower empathy score from Wave 1 to Wave 2 (β = 0.100, SE = 0.021, t = 4,884, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has had detrimental effects on adolescents' empathy and prosocial attributes. Special attention should be given to these two longitudinally associated factors in any social crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, considering their importance for adolescents' physical, mental, and social development.

Peer victimization and empathy for victims of bullying: A test of bidirectional associations in childhood and adolescence

Anti-bullying interventions often assume that knowing how it feels to be bullied increases empathy for victims. However, longitudinal research on actual experiences of bullying and empathy is lacking. This study investigated whether within-person changes in victimization predicted changes in empathy over 1 year using random-intercept cross-lagged panel models. Self- and peer-reported victimization, and cognitive and affective empathy for victims were measured in a sample of 15,713 Finnish youth (M_age  = 13.23, SD_age  = 2.01, 51.6% female; 92.5% had Finnish-speaking parents; data was collected in 2007-2009 when information about participants' race/ethnicity was not available due to ethical guidelines for the protection of personal information). Results indicated small, positive longitudinal associations from victimization to cognitive empathy. Implications for empathy-raising interventions are discussed.

Exploring Multivariate Profiles of Psychological Distress and Empathy in Early Adolescent Victims, Bullies, and Bystanders Involved in Cyberbullying Episodes

(1) Background: Adolescents may be involved in cyberbullying as victims, perpetrators, or to a lesser extent, victim-perpetrators simultaneously. The present research investigated differences between participants acting in different bullying roles-namely, bully, victim, or bully/victim-and bystander roles-namely, defending, passive bystander, and passive/defending; (2) Methods: We used multivariate analysis of covariance to determine how, in the same individuals, direct involvement in cyberbullying episodes compares to participating in them as by-standers in relation to both psychological distress and empathy; (3) Results: Both victims and bully/victims were found to be at increased risk for suicidal ideation, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and emotional dysregulation compared with students who were neither victims nor perpetrators of cyberbullying episodes. Additionally, victims showed higher empathy scores when compared with bullies and bully/victims. All bystander roles showed increased emotional dysregulation compared with uninvolved students, but no differences emerged on other psychological distress measures. Finally, defending bystanders showed increased cognitive empathy. (4) Conclusions: During early adolescence, the direct experience of cyberbullying, as a bully or a victim (or both), show a stronger association with psychological distress than the mere participation in cyberbullying as a witness, regardless of the witness acting defensive toward the victim, or passive. However, both cyberbullying and bystanding roles provide a similar (small) explicative power over empathy variables.

Empathy, Defending, and Functional Connectivity While Witnessing Social Exclusion

Peers are present for most bullying episodes. Peers who witness bullying can play an important role in either stopping or perpetuating the behaviour. Defending can greatly benefit victimized peers. Empathy is strongly associated with defending. Yet, less is known about defenders' neural response to witnessing social distress, and how this response may relate to the link between empathy and defending. Forty-six first-year undergraduate students (M_age = 17.7; 37 women), with varied history of peer defending, underwent fMRI scanning while witnessing a depiction of social exclusion. Functional connectivity analysis was performed across brain regions that are involved in cognitive empathy, empathetic distress, and compassion. History of defending was positively associated with functional connectivity (Exclusion > Inclusion) between the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) - medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and right OFC - left and right amygdalae. Defending was negatively associated with functional connectivity between the left OFC - anterior cingulate cortex. The relationship between history of defending and empathy (specifically, empathetic perspective taking) was moderated by functional connectivity of the right OFC - left amygdala. These findings suggest that coactivation of brain regions involved in compassionate emotion regulation and empathetic distress play a role in the relationship between empathy and peer defending.

The Long-Term Effects of Bullying, Victimization, and Bystander Behavior on Emotion Regulation and Its Physiological Correlates

Bullying at school is a serious social problem that influences the wellbeing of everyone involved, that is, victims, perpetrators, and bystanders. Among the many health and psychological problems that these individuals may develop, emotion dysregulation appears to be a common marker. To date, however, it remains unclear whether bullying experienced during the school years is associated with emotion dysregulation also in adulthood. In this study, by adopting a retrospective approach, we investigated whether involvement in bullying at school-either as a bully, victim, or bystander-could put these individuals at risk of presenting deficits in emotion regulation in adulthood, as assessed with behavioral (explicit) and physiological (implicit) indexes (i.e., skin conductance), and whether the association between the involvement in bullying and emotion regulation was direct or mediated by other factors, such as somatic complaints and sensation seeking. A total of 58 young adults were asked to control their emotional reactions in front of images with strong emotional content, and to explicitly evaluate them with ratings, while their arousal was measured through skin conductance. They also responded to questionnaires about retrospective involvement in bullying, somatic complaints, and sensation seeking. Results revealed that victimization and bystander behavior were directly and negatively associated with emotion regulation as assessed with skin conductance, whereas bullying was positively associated with implicit emotion regulation through the mediation of sensation seeking. Interestingly, emotion regulation as assessed with explicit ratings was not associated with any of the characteristics of the participants. Our study suggests that being directly (as victim) but also indirectly (as bystander) involved in bullying at school time is associated with difficulties in emotional wellbeing in adulthood. Furthermore, it reveals that behavioral and physiological indexes associated with emotion regulation dissociate, suggesting that subtle physiological changes may remain hidden from explicit behavior.

Cognitive and Affective Empathy Relate Differentially to Emotion Regulation

The constructs of empathy (i.e., understanding and/or sharing another's emotion) and emotion regulation (i.e., the processes by which one manages emotions) have largely been studied in relative isolation of one another. To better understand the interrelationships between their various component processes, this manuscript reports two studies that examined the relationship between empathy and emotion regulation using a combination of self-report and task measures. In study 1 (N = 137), trait cognitive empathy and affective empathy were found to share divergent relationships with self-reported emotion dysregulation. Trait emotion dysregulation was negatively related to cognitive empathy but did not show a significant relationship with affective empathy. In the second study (N = 92), the magnitude of emotion interference effects (i.e., the extent to which inhibitory control was impacted by emotional relative to neutral stimuli) in variants of a Go/NoGo and Stroop task were used as proxy measures of implicit emotion regulation abilities. Trait cognitive and affective empathy were differentially related to both task metrics. Higher affective empathy was associated with increased emotional interference in the Emotional Go/NoGo task; no such relationship was observed for trait cognitive empathy. In the Emotional Stroop task, higher cognitive empathy was associated with reduced emotional interference; no such relationship was observed for affective empathy. Together, these studies demonstrate that greater cognitive empathy was broadly associated with improved emotion regulation abilities, while greater affective empathy was typically associated with increased difficulties with emotion regulation. These findings point to the need for assessing the different components of empathy in psychopathological conditions marked by difficulties in emotion regulation.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-021-00062-w.

Process-Oriented Measurement of Emotion Regulation: General and Specific Associations With Psychosocial Adjustment and Well-Being in (Pre-)Adolescence

The development of emotion regulation (ER) is associated with children's and adolescents' psychosocial adjustment and well-being. In this regard, previous studies have examined the role of different ER strategies, which can be characterized as being functional (e.g., reappraisal, problem solving) or dysfunctional (e.g., suppression, rumination). Based on the process model of emotion regulation, the strategies can also be classified according to their temporal position within the emotion generative process, with five families of ER strategies being proposed: situation selection, situation modification, attentional deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. This study aimed to examine the role of ER for adolescents' psychosocial adjustment (internalizing and externalizing problems, prosocial behavior) and well-being. First, associations were investigated on a more general level by distinguishing between functional and dysfunctional ER. Second, relations were examined on a more specific level by additionally distinguishing between the five families of ER strategies as suggested in the process model of ER. Questionnaire self-reports of N = 1,727 German children and adolescents (55% girls) aged 9-18 years (M = 13.03, SD = 1.75) collected in schools were analyzed. Path analyses showed that more functional and less dysfunctional ER in general is associated with fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and higher well-being. Prosocial behavior was only positively related to functional but not dysfunctional ER. Analyses of associations on the level of specific categories of ER strategies generally showed a similar pattern, but in part indicated differential associations with the dependent variables: Internalizing problems were particularly associated with functional situation selection, dysfunctional cognitive change, and dysfunctional response modulation. Externalizing problems were associated with functional situation selection and response modulation, as well as numerous dysfunctional strategies, none of which were particularly salient. Similarly, numerous rather than single specific associations emerged between prosocial behavior and the five categories of functional ER strategies. Well-being was particularly associated with functional situation selection and dysfunctional cognitive change. Overall, a more precise assessment of ER, as implemented in this study, could not only advance research in this field, but can also be helpful in planning and evaluating prevention and intervention programs.

Measures of empathy in children and adolescents: A systematic review of questionnaires

BACKGROUND

Empathy has long been considered a multidimensional construct, encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioral domains. Deficits in empathic competences in early childhood contribute to psychopathology, and have been variably implicated in several clinical conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and conduct disorders.

AIM

To identify and describe empirically validated questionnaires assessing empathy in children and adolescents and to provide a summary of related theoretical perspectives on empathy definitional issues.

METHODS

A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Three bibliographic databases were searched. A total of 47 studies were selected for final analysis and 16 distinct measures were identified and described.

RESULTS

Questionable to excellent levels of internal consistency were observed, while few studies assessed test-retest reliability. Although construct definitions only partially overlapped, affective and cognitive domains of empathy were the commonest internal factors that were often separately evaluated. New facets of the construct (i.e., somatic empathy and sympathy) and specific clinical populations (i.e., ASD) could be specifically addressed through more recent instruments.

CONCLUSION

The combination of different assessment methods is recommended in order to foresee further improvements in this field and try to overcome the problem of limited convergence with more objective measures.

Adolescent Empathy Influences Bystander Defending in School Bullying: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis

Even though numerous studies have shown that adolescent empathy is positively related to bystander defending in school bullying, others have failed to detect a significant association between these two variables. To address this discrepancy, a three-level meta-analysis of 27 papers (35 independent studies, N = 25,012 adolescents) was conducted. The results showed that empathy was positively correlated with bystander defending. Furthermore, the strength of the relationship between empathy and bystander defending was moderated by the type of empathy and the evaluators of defending. Specifically, the correlation coefficient between affective empathy and bystander defending (r = 0.27, 95% CI [0.22, 0.32]) was significantly stronger than that between cognitive empathy and bystander defending (r = 0.22, 95% CI [0.17, 0.28]). Finally, the strength of the relationship between empathy and bystander defending was moderated by the evaluator of defending behavior. That is, the correlation coefficient of bystander defending measured by self-evaluation was significantly stronger than that measured by peer-evaluation. The results showed that empathy was closely related to bystander defending. Thus, school bullying can be prevented from the perspective of enhancing empathy among adolescents.

Gender Differences in Empathy During Adolescence: Does Emotional Self-Awareness Matter?

Empathy refers to the capacity to experience emotions similar to those observed or imagined in another person, with the full knowledge that the other person is the source of these emotions. Awareness of one's own emotional states is a prerequisite for self-other differentiation to develop. This study investigated gender differences in empathy during adolescence and tested whether emotional self-awareness explained these differences. Two-hundred-eleven adolescents (108 girls and 103 boys) between 14 and 19 years completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) to assess empathy and emotional self-awareness, respectively. Overall, girls obtained higher scores than boys on IRI subscales like emotional concern, personal distress, and fantasy. Regarding emotional self-awareness, we found gender differences in TAS-20 scores, with girls reporting greater difficulty identifying feelings and less externally oriented thinking than boys. Difficulty identifying feelings explained the greatest personal distress experienced by girls. Lower externally oriented thinking accounted for girls' greater emotional concern and fantasy. These findings offer an insight into the role of emotional self-awareness-which is essential for self-other differentiation-as an account for gender differences in empathic abilities during adolescence. In girls, difficulty identifying feelings can impair the ability to differentiate between ones' and others' emotions, leading them to experience self-focused and aversive responses when confronted with others' suffering. Conversely, in boys, externally oriented thinking can mitigate personal distress when faced with others' discomfort.

Empathy as a buffer: How empathy moderates the emotional effects on Preschoolers' sharing

This study experimentally investigated how empathy moderated the influence of external emotional stimuli on preschoolers' subsequent sharing behaviour. Children aged 4-6 (N = 218) were randomly presented with one of the video clips that elicited sad, happy, or neutral emotion, and were then asked to play a dictator game with puppet partners. Results revealed that compared to the neutral condition, children with higher empathy increased sharing after induced happiness but did not change sharing after induced sadness; by contrast, children with lower empathy decreased sharing after induced sadness. It appears that empathy may enhance the positive effect of happiness while reducing the negative effect of sadness on sharing behaviour. These findings provide experimental evidence in early childhood to support approaches that emphasize the role of immediate emotions in moral decision-making; critically, such emotional effects vary with individual differences in dispositional empathy.

Psychological Predictors of Bullying in Adolescents From Pluricultural Schools: A Transnational Study in Spain and Ecuador

This study aimed to analyze the levels of personal aggression and victimization, ethnic-cultural aggression and victimization, self-esteem, empathy, social skills and gender in adolescents as potential predictors of bullying in Spain and Ecuador. The wide pluricultural sample comprised secondary education students from both countries (N = 25,190, average age = 13.92, SD = 1.306; N_Spain = 14,437; N_Ecuador = 10,753), who took part in the study by filling in a self-report. The results revealed that predictive models of bullying for both countries explain 50–70% of variance. A transnational predictive pattern of personal victimization can be observed based on the levels of ethnic-cultural victimization, ethnic-cultural aggression, personal aggression, self-deprecation, and affective empathy. A transnational predictive pattern of personal aggression is evidenced depending on the levels of ethnic-cultural aggression, personal victimization, self-deprecation, ethnic-cultural victimization, and the fact of being female. We concluded that bullying can largely be predicted by involvement in ethnic-cultural discrimination. These results are discussed, and educational inferences are drawn for prevention.

The German Version of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents: Associations with Emotion Regulation and Psychosocial Adjustment

Emotional awareness is an important variable for children's and adolescents' social and emotional development. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties (e.g., factor structure, internal consistencies) of scores on the German translation of the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ; Rieffe, Oosterveld, Miers, Meerum Terwogt, & Ly, 2008 ). Furthermore, to examine the concurrent validity, associations of the six subscales (Differentiating Emotions, Verbal Sharing of Emotions, Not Hiding Emotions, Bodily Unawareness, Attending to Others' Emotions, Analyses of Emotions) with emotion regulation, internalizing and externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior were investigated. Questionnaire data of 1,018 adolescents aged between 11 and 18 were analyzed. The proposed six-factor structure was replicated and internal consistencies were satisfactory. Meaningful associations of the six EAQ subscales with emotion regulation and psychosocial adjustment were found, proving the concurrent validity of this questionnaire. In general, higher emotional awareness was associated with more functional emotion regulation and prosocial behavior, and less dysfunctional emotion regulation and internalizing and externalizing problems. Significant gender differences were detected and are discussed. Overall, the findings suggest that the German EAQ is a useful instrument to assess children's and adolescents' emotional awareness.

Trait Emotional Empathy and Resting State Functional Connectivity in Default Mode, Salience, and Central Executive Networks

Emotional empathy is the ability to experience and/or share another person&rsquo;s emotional states and responses. Although some research has examined the neural correlates of emotional empathy, there has been little research investigating whether this component of empathy is related to the functional connectivity of resting state networks in the brain. In the current study, 32 participants answered a trait emotional empathy questionnaire in a session previous to their functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Results indicate that emotional empathy scores were correlated with different patterns of functional connectivity in the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and left and right central executive networks. For example, within the DMN, emotional empathy scores positively correlated with connectivity in the premotor cortex. Within the SN, empathy scores were positively correlated with the fusiform gyrus and cuneus. These findings demonstrate that emotional empathy is associated with unique patterns of functional connectivity in four of the brain&rsquo;s resting state networks.

The development of cross-cultural recognition of vocal emotion during childhood and adolescence

Humans have an innate set of emotions recognised universally. However, emotion recognition also depends on socio-cultural rules. Although adults recognise vocal emotions universally, they identify emotions more accurately in their native language. We examined developmental trajectories of universal vocal emotion recognition in children. Eighty native English speakers completed a vocal emotion recognition task in their native language (English) and foreign languages (Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic) expressing anger, happiness, sadness, fear, and neutrality. Emotion recognition was compared across 8-to-10, 11-to-13-year-olds, and adults. Measures of behavioural and emotional problems were also taken. Results showed that although emotion recognition was above chance for all languages, native English speaking children were more accurate in recognising vocal emotions in their native language. There was a larger improvement in recognising vocal emotion from the native language during adolescence. Vocal anger recognition did not improve with age for the non-native languages. This is the first study to demonstrate universality of vocal emotion recognition in children whilst supporting an "in-group advantage" for more accurate recognition in the native language. Findings highlight the role of experience in emotion recognition, have implications for child development in modern multicultural societies and address important theoretical questions about the nature of emotions.

Getting angry matters: Going beyond perspective taking and empathic concern to understand bystanders' behavior in bullying

The present study examined the relations between different empathic dimensions and bystanders' behavior in bullying. Specifically, the indirect effects of empathic concern and perspective taking via empathic anger on defending and passive bystanding were tested in a sample of Italian young adolescents (N = 398; M_age = 12 years, 3 months, 47.2% girls). Path analysis confirmed the direct and indirect effects, via empathic anger, of empathic concern and perspective taking on bystanders' behavior, with the exception of the direct association between perspective taking and passive bystanding that was not significant. Our findings suggest that considering empathic anger together with empathic concern and perspective taking could help researchers to better understand the links between empathic dispositions and bystanders' behavior in bullying.

Concern for Others: A Study on Empathy in Toddlers with Moderate Hearing Loss

Empathy, the ability to feel the emotions of others and respond affectively to these emotions, is an important factor in the development of social competence. The purpose of this study was to examine empathy levels in toddlers with moderate hearing loss (MHL) compared to toddlers with no hearing loss (nHL), and to explore the relation between language ability and empathy. We focused on affective empathy and the precursors of cognitive empathy. A total of 23 toddlers with MHL and 21 toddlers with nHL participated in the study. Parent report (ITSEA) and observation measures were used to rate the toddlers' levels of empathy. The results showed that the levels of affective empathy in toddlers with MHL and with nHL were similar on both measures. Toddlers with MHL lagged behind their peers with nHL on some precursors of cognitive empathy (intention understanding and joint attention). Language ability was unrelated to empathy levels in both groups of toddlers. In conclusion, toddlers with MHL seem to be at risk for problems in their empathy development. Although they are aware of the emotions of others, the development of more complex skills needed for an adequate empathic response is delayed in comparison with their hearing peers.