Children who report being more empathetic are more likely to show signs of poorer health in the face of more interparental conflict than less empathetic children, according to a new study led by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.
The surveys assessed both the children's perception of interparental conflict, including whether they felt threatened and whether they felt they were at fault when their parents fought. The children also self-reported on their empathy, including whether they felt sorry when other people were sad and whether they cared about the feelings of others. The parents provided ratings of overall child health on a scale from excellent to poor.
From these self-reported and biological measures, the researchers determined that children who reported being more empathetic had higher levels of CRP, which is suggestive of greater levels of chronic inflammation, and worse parent-reported overall health when perceiving more interparental conflict. "These results raise interesting questions about children's home and school environments," she said."Empathy is important, especially at this life stage, but it doesn't make sense to push more empathy teaching toward all kids. Some kids might need help understanding when it is okay to set boundaries and how to find a balance between being aware of how others feel, but not taking on every little thing that happens.
Jennifer Graham-Engeland, professor of biobehavioral health; Damon Jones, associate research professor in the PRC; and Aishwarya Ganguli and Caitlin Givens, graduate students in the Department of Biobehavioral Health, also contributed to this research.
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