PLA Strategic Support Force Medical Center, Beijing, China.
School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
J Affect Disord. 2022 Jul 1;308:442-448. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.04.054. Epub 2022 Apr 14.
Empathy refers to an individual's ability to experience the emotional and cognitive processes of another person during social interactions. Although many studies have examined the effects of genetic variation on emotional empathy, little is currently known about whether genetic factors may influence cognitive empathy. This study investigated the relationship between BDNF rs11030101 genotype, job stress, and empathy, especially cognitive empathy, in a Chinese Han population.
A cross-sectional design was used and 340 participants were recruited from a university in Beijing. Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used to measure empathy. Job stress was measured using House and Rizzo's Job Stress Scale. The BDNF rs11030101 was genotyped in all participants.
Gender and age were associated with various IRI subscales (p < 0.001). After controlling for gender, age and education level, BDNF rs11030101 genotype had no main effect on all empathy subscales (p > 0.05). Job stress was negatively associated with Perspective Taking (p = 0.006) and positively associated with Personal Distress (p < 0.001). In addition, the BDNF rs11030101 genotype modulated the relationship between job stress and Fantasy (p = 0.013), indicating that T allele carriers had higher Fantasy scores at higher job stress and lower Fantasy scores at lower job stress than AA homozygotes. This interaction was only present in women.
The sample size and single-nucleotide polymorphism are limited, and the cross-sectional design should be improved.
Female university faculty with the BDNF rs11030101 T allele may utilize higher emotional job demands, thereby fostering their cognitive empathy.
同理心是指个体在社交互动中体验他人情感和认知过程的能力。尽管许多研究已经考察了遗传变异对情感同理心的影响，但目前尚不清楚遗传因素是否会影响认知同理心。本研究调查了 BDNF rs11030101 基因型、工作压力与同理心（尤其是认知同理心）之间的关系，研究对象为中国汉族人群。
采用横断面设计，从北京一所大学招募了 340 名参与者。使用人际反应指数（IRI）来衡量同理心。工作压力使用豪斯和里佐的工作压力量表进行测量。所有参与者均进行了 BDNF rs11030101 基因分型。
性别和年龄与 IRI 各分量表相关（p<0.001）。在控制性别、年龄和教育水平后，BDNF rs11030101 基因型对所有同理心分量表均无主效应（p>0.05）。工作压力与观点采择呈负相关（p=0.006），与个人困扰呈正相关（p<0.001）。此外，BDNF rs11030101 基因型调节了工作压力与幻想之间的关系（p=0.013），表明 T 等位基因携带者在工作压力较高时的幻想得分较高，而在工作压力较低时的幻想得分较低，而 AA 纯合子则相反。这种相互作用仅存在于女性中。
样本量和单核苷酸多态性有限，横断面设计应加以改进。
携带 BDNF rs11030101 T 等位基因的女性大学教师可能会利用更高的情绪工作要求，从而培养她们的认知同理心。
