Blasberg Jost Ulrich, Kanske Philipp, Engert Veronika
Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena.
Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universitat.
Dev Psychol. 2025 Apr 28. doi: 10.1037/dev0001972.
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).
对他人心理社会压力的生理和心理再现能够提供必要的同情，以帮助彼此缓解眼前的压力源。但这种共情压力也可能造成压力扩散而非消散的可能性。我们调查了青少年在观察处于急性应激状态下的父母时是否会表现出共情压力。母亲或父亲（n = 77）完成一项标准化的实验室应激任务，同时他们13至16岁的青少年子女作为观察者。亲子双方同时提供多个唾液皮质醇、心率、心率变异性（HRV）和主观压力样本。青少年还完成了一项名为EmpaToM的计算机任务，以测量共情、同情和心理理论。平均而言，青少年在所有压力指标上都表现出显著反应。此外，在压力任务结束后与处于应激状态的父母互动时，青少年的心率和HRV反应性增加。这些生理变化与父母心理和生理压力反应的程度无关。在他们的社会情感能力方面，只有高度共情的青少年表现出更高的自我报告的个人痛苦。我们得出结论，青少年会对父母的压力产生替代性反应，尤其是在与处于急性应激状态的父母互动期间。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
