Haugen Peter T, Welsh Deborah P, McNulty James K
Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Austin Peay Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0900, USA.
J Adolesc. 2008 Dec;31(6):709-27. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.03.003. Epub 2008 May 27.
Although theoretical insights suggest that empathic accuracy should emerge to play a role in adolescents' romantic relationships, the nature of any such role remains unknown. The current study examined whether empathic accuracy: (1) was developmentally based, (2) differed across gender, and (3) was associated with adolescents' satisfaction with their romantic relationships. Participants were 204 male-female couples who ranged between 14 and 21 years of age and had been dating between 4 weeks and 5 years. On average, both male and female adolescents showed high levels of empathic accuracy that were positively associated with their own and their partners' relationship satisfaction. However, the direction of the associations that emerged, and gender differences in them, depended in part on the type of information being perceived. For instance, while both males' and females' accuracy for discomfort and conflict were positively associated with partners' satisfaction, males'-but not females'-accuracy for connection was negatively associated with their satisfaction, and females'-but not males'-accuracy for persuasion was positively associated with partners' satisfaction. Empathic accuracy was not significantly associated with age or relationship length. Taken together, these results reveal that a complete picture of empathic accuracy requires research on perceptions of various types of information.
尽管理论见解表明共情准确性在青少年恋爱关系中应发挥作用，但其具体作用性质仍不明确。本研究考察了共情准确性是否：（1）基于发展阶段，（2）存在性别差异，以及（3）与青少年恋爱关系满意度相关。研究参与者为204对年龄在14至21岁之间、恋爱时长在4周至5年之间的男女情侣。平均而言，青少年男女都表现出较高水平的共情准确性，且与他们自己及伴侣的关系满意度呈正相关。然而，出现的关联方向及其性别差异部分取决于所感知信息的类型。例如，虽然男性和女性对不适和冲突的准确性都与伴侣的满意度呈正相关，但男性对亲密感的准确性（而非女性）与他们自己的满意度呈负相关，而女性对说服力的准确性（而非男性）与伴侣的满意度呈正相关。共情准确性与年龄或恋爱时长无显著关联。综合来看，这些结果表明，要全面了解共情准确性，需要对各类信息的感知进行研究。
