The influence of empathy on the interpersonal emotion regulation strategies of adolescents.

The aim of this study was to explore the use of interpersonal emotion regulation (IER, other-focused emotion regulation through social means) strategies among high school students in relation to empathy. At the core of empathy is a cognitive process of understanding another's thoughts and emotions (cognitive empathy) and an emotional component of sharing another's emotional experience (affective empathy). In Study 1, the Emotion Regulation of Others and Self questionnaire was used to investigate the current status of IER strategies most common among 414 high school students from Beijing and Jinan, China. In Study 2, a co-operative scenario was created to identify the IER strategies employed by a cohort of 128 students selected from Study 1 with varying levels of empathy in response to different levels of interpersonal intimacy. The results indicate that students with high levels of cognitive empathy and low levels of affective empathy were more likely to use affect-improving strategies, whereas those with low levels of cognitive empathy and high levels of affective empathy were more inclined to use affect-worsening strategies. Overall, the choice of IER strategies is influenced by interpersonal motivation to regulate emotions.