Empathic stress in the family system

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Veronika Engert
• Subject Area: Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 441652844

Key components of social processing, such as empathy, perspective taking, and compassion, build the foundation of successful human interaction. Despite its adaptive nature, some researchers argue that empathy has “a dark side” (Bloom, 2017). Empathic stress is one example of how empathy can go awry. Over the past 10 years, a rising number of studies has shown that we share the stressed states of others, down to the level of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation and proportional cortisol release in the individuals observing stressed targets and the stressed targets themselves. Resonating with another’s stress response may be adaptive in that it improves mutual understanding or mobilizes energy to help. However, scenarios are conceivable where stress resonance is maladaptive. In their family unit, humans experience maximal emotional and spatial closeness – and thus ideal conditions for stress resonance. Family members caught in a stress-charged family environment may accordingly be at risk of detrimental health effects following long-term stress resonance and associated cortisol over-activation. In this regard, children, whose stress system is still developing, are especially vulnerable to the effects of chronic stress. Accordingly, previous studies provide strong evidence for adverse effects of early life chronic stress on emotion regulation, memory, coping and health across the lifespan. In this proposal, we ask for a one-year prolongation of a currently funded 3-year project investigating empathic stress in the family system. In three separate work packages (WPs), this project aims to establish the presence of empathic stress in parent-child dyads, and examine acute effects of empathic stress experience on executive function in children (WP1). WP 1 was successfully realized, and one paper is currently in press, while two more are under review. WP 2 examines the role of facial expressions in mothers and the mimicry thereof in children as one possible mechanism underlying stress resonance. It also explores the role of perspective taking and trait empathy for children’s stress resonance. Last, WP 3 investigates behavioral and physiological modulators and potential health outcomes of diurnal cortisol covariation in mother-child dyads. WPs 2+3 were severely delayed due to hygiene restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since restrictions fell, we tested ~44 % of the planned sample of 80 parent-child dyads. Data acquisition will be terminated within the funded 3-year timeframe; aim of the one-year prolongation is the termination of data analysis and publication of manuscripts. The results of this project will advance our understanding of the significance and mechanisms of stress transmission in the family. In doing so, they will provide the basis for developing approaches to protect vulnerable populations from the negative impact of chronic stress resonance.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants