Empathic stress in the family: Adolescents vicariously respond to their parents' acute psychosocial stress.

The physiological and psychological reproduction of another's psychosocial stress can offer the necessary commiseration to help one another alleviate a stressor at hand. But such empathic stress might also create the possibility for stress to spread rather than dissipate. We investigated whether adolescents showed empathic stress when observing their parents under acute stress. Mothers or fathers ( = 77) completed a standardized laboratory stressor while their adolescent children (13-16 years old) acted as observers. Dyad members simultaneously provided multiple samples of salivary cortisol, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and subjective stress. Adolescents also completed a computerized task, the EmpaToM, to measure empathy, compassion, and theory of mind. On average, adolescents showed significant responses across all stress markers. Furthermore, when interacting with their stressed parents after termination of the stress task, adolescents showed increased heart rate and HRV reactivity. These physiological changes were unrelated to the magnitude of the parents' psychological and physiological stress responses. Regarding their socioemotional capacities, only highly empathic adolescents showed greater self-reported personal distress. We conclude that adolescents vicariously react to their parents' stress, particularly during interaction with an acutely stressed parental figure. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).