Abstract
Early adolescence is a period of development of emotional competence, but also of increasing vulnerability for the onset of depressive symptoms. While literature underscored that empathy promotes social relationships and psychological well-being over the life course, the possible role of high empathy levels as a risk factor for depression has been under investigated, especially among early adolescents. Moreover, although parenting practices are known to influence both empathy and depression in adolescence, few studies investigated if parenting moderates the relationship between empathy and depression. Therefore, the aims of the study were: (1) to investigate the relationships between affective and cognitive empathy and depression; (2) to investigate the moderating role of perceived paternal and maternal support on the associations between affective and cognitive empathy and depression; (3) to examine if the relationships among affective and cognitive empathy, maternal and paternal support and depression vary as a function of early adolescents’ gender. The study involved 386 Italian students aged between 12 and 14 (M age = 13, SD = 0.3, 47.9% girls) who completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire, including measures of cognitive and affective empathy, paternal and maternal support and depression. Results showed that with a mean level of affective and cognitive empathy, higher maternal support was related to lower depression for girls, whereas higher paternal support was related to lower depression for both boys and girls. Both maternal and paternal support moderated the relation between empathy and depression. In particular, maternal support moderated the non-linear relation between affective empathy and depression and the relation was further moderated by early adolescents’ gender: boys with low affective empathy reported lower depression in a context of high maternal support. Paternal support moderated the linear relation between cognitive empathy and depression, independently of early adolescents’ gender: boys and girls with high cognitive empathy reported higher depression in a context of low paternal support. The results of the study suggested that high empathy might be a risk factor for depression during early adolescence and mothers and fathers have a differential moderating role in relation to the affective and cognitive dimensions of empathy, also in relation to early adolescents’ gender.
Highlights
Adolescence is a period of great developmental challenges: the pubertal transition is associated with many physical and psychological changes, that can be linked with the increase of emotional and social competence, and with the increasing vulnerability for depressive symptoms, especially for girls (Hamilton et al, 2014)
In our sample of early adolescents, girls seem more at risk than boys to experience depressive symptoms, and more prone to share and vicariously experience others’ emotions than their male peers. This difference in levels of affective empathy could be explained with reference to cultural models that encourage girls to be sensitive to other’s emotional difficulties and to place more importance to intimacy than boys in peer relationships (Rubin et al, 2006)
We found that boys reported higher paternal support than girls, consistent with previous literature, suggesting that paternal warmth and closeness are perceived as salient in the son-father couple (Colarossi and Eccles, 2003)
Summary
Adolescence is a period of great developmental challenges: the pubertal transition is associated with many physical and psychological changes, that can be linked with the increase of emotional and social competence, and with the increasing vulnerability for depressive symptoms, especially for girls (Hamilton et al, 2014). While most studies investigated risk and protective factors of depression in middle and late adolescence (see Cairns et al, 2014 for a review), there is a lack of knowledge on correlates of depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Identifying these factors is relevant to implement timely interventions to contrast depression and promote positive developmental trajectories among early adolescents
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
