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Empathic Accuracy and Shared Depressive Symptoms in Close Relationships.

ABSTRACT: Empathic accuracy, the ability to accurately understand others' emotions, is typically viewed as beneficial for mental health. However, empathic accuracy may be problematic when a close relational partner is depressed because it promotes shared depression. Across two studies, we measured empathic accuracy using laboratory tasks that capture the ability to rate others' emotional valence accurately over time: first, in a sample of 156 neurotypical married couples (Study 1; Total N=312), and then in a sample of 102 informal caregivers of individuals with dementia (Study 2). Across both studies, the association between empathic accuracy and depressive symptoms varied as a function of a partner's level of depressive symptoms. Greater empathic accuracy was associated with (a) fewer depressive symptoms when a partner lacked depressive symptoms, but (b) more depressive symptoms when a partner had high levels of depressive symptoms. Accurately detecting changes in others' emotional valence may underpin shared depressive symptoms.

SUBMITTER: Brown CL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10193708 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Empathic Accuracy and Shared Depressive Symptoms in Close Relationships.

Brown Casey L CL Grimm Kevin J KJ Wells Jenna L JL Hua Alice Y AY Levenson Robert W RW

Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science 20230207 3

Empathic accuracy, the ability to accurately understand others' emotions, is typically viewed as beneficial for mental health. However, empathic accuracy may be problematic when a close relational partner is depressed because it promotes shared depression. Across two studies, we measured empathic accuracy using laboratory tasks that capture the ability to rate others' emotional valence accurately over time: first, in a sample of 156 neurotypical married couples (Study 1; Total N=312), and then i ...[more]

PMID: 37206479

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Project description:BackgroundThe Empathic Accuracy Task (EAT) is an objective measure to assess empathic accuracy. Due to the variability in the number and linked emotions of the narrated events, we adapted EAT for the Indian sociocultural setting as Indian EAT (I-EAT).MethodsEight videos were adapted in three languages (English, Hindi, and Kannada), narrating emotional events with a uniform representation of age groups, different emotions, and sex. The adapted I-EAT was then validated by cross-sectional comparison with different tests similar to EAT and those that assessed concepts different from or similar to empathy, in 29 healthy young adults, 23 healthy older adults (aged ≥60 years) along with clinical groups of 15 young people with depression, 15 older people with depression, and 15 young people with schizophrenia.ResultsWe selected eight videos with good content validity and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73. We obtained satisfactory concurrent validity of the EAT scores with the self-reported empathic assessments using the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (Cognitive empathy score = 0.29, p = .034; Total score = 0.29, p = .035) and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Empathic concern score = 0.45, p = .001). Good divergent validity was revealed in the high inverse correlation recorded with the Apathy Evaluation Scale ( = -0.67, p < .001). I-EAT did not correlate significantly with measures of social cognition. Known-groups validity was adequate in young adults with the significantly lower EAT scores (Cohen's d: 0.77 to 1.15) in the Schizophrenia group and higher EAT-N scores (Cohen's d: 0.51) in the Depression group, compared to the Healthy group. The Healthy group of the geriatric population also achieved significantly higher EAT scores (Cohen's d: 0.71 to 0.85) than the Depression group.ConclusionWith a good validity and internal consistency, I-EAT can be used in the Indian population to assess empathic accuracy without compromising performance of the original EAT.

Dataset Information

Empathic Accuracy and Shared Depressive Symptoms in Close Relationships.

Publications

Empathic Accuracy and Shared Depressive Symptoms in Close Relationships.

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