Huo Meng, Leger Kate A, Birditt Kira S, Fingerman Karen L
Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 2;15(1):269. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82550-0.
Empathy plays a crucial role in promoting older adults' interpersonal experiences, but it remains unclear how these benefits of empathy occur. To address this gap, we examined associations between empathy and how older adults behave and express emotions during their daily interpersonal encounters. Participants included 268 adults aged 65+ (46% men, n = 124) from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study. They reported background characteristics and empathy in baseline interviews and indicated interpersonal encounters every 3 hours across 5 to 6 days. Participants wore electronically activated recorders (EAR), an app that captured 30-second snippets of ambient sounds every 7 minutes. Verbatim transcripts were coded for positive and negative social behaviors (e.g., praise, complain) and text was analyzed via Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software for verbal expressions of positive and negative emotions (e.g., happy, hope, hate, hurt). Multilevel models showed that greater empathy was associated with greater variety in positive social behaviors throughout the day. More empathic older adults expressed more positive emotions while engaging in positive behaviors and less negative emotions when engaging in negative behaviors. This study innovatively draws on naturalistic data to delineate how more empathic older adults may have more positive and less negative social experiences than their less empathic counterparts. Findings may inform interventions that can incorporate empathy training to target those at higher risk of poor interpersonal experiences and outcomes (e.g., social isolation).
同理心在促进老年人的人际交往体验中起着至关重要的作用，但目前尚不清楚同理心的这些益处是如何产生的。为了填补这一空白，我们研究了同理心与老年人在日常人际交往中行为和表达情绪方式之间的关联。参与者包括来自“日常经历与幸福感研究”的268名65岁及以上的成年人（46%为男性，n = 124）。他们在基线访谈中报告了背景特征和同理心，并在5至6天内每3小时指明一次人际交往情况。参与者佩戴电子激活记录器（EAR），这是一款每7分钟捕捉30秒环境声音片段的应用程序。逐字记录稿被编码为积极和消极的社会行为（如赞扬、抱怨），并通过语言查询与字数统计（LIWC）软件对积极和消极情绪的言语表达（如快乐、希望、仇恨、伤害）进行分析。多层次模型显示，更强的同理心与一整天中更丰富多样的积极社会行为相关。更具同理心的老年人在进行积极行为时表达出更多积极情绪，而在进行消极行为时表达出更少消极情绪。本研究创新性地利用自然主义数据来描绘更具同理心的老年人如何比缺乏同理心的同龄人拥有更多积极和更少消极的社会体验。研究结果可能为干预措施提供参考，这些干预措施可以纳入同理心训练，以针对那些人际体验和结果较差风险较高的人群（如社会孤立者）。
