Empathy as a Risky Strength: Associations With Parent and Child Depressive Symptoms in Middle Childhood

ABSTRACT Healthy human relationships incorporate empathy; yet empathy may sometimes be a risky strength. Here we examine whether links between parent and child depressive symptoms are moderated by child empathy in early school age children. Children's empathy (empathic concern and hypothesis testing) and empathy‐related responding (personal distress and prosocial behaviors) were observed during a structured laboratory task during which an examiner showed distress. Parents also completed questionnaires and interviews about their own and their children's depressive symptoms. In our sample, mothers were primarily the main caregivers and showed higher depressive symptoms than fathers. Both mother and father depressive symptoms were related to child depressive symptoms, with this relationship being moderated by children's higher empathic concern toward the examiner for mothers only. Children's concern for others can be stressful and often co‐occurs with personal distress; both feelings can precede or signal depression. Though empathic concern is an indicator of social competence, it is also a risky strength, as it is linked to personal distress and a higher risk of depressive symptoms, especially in children with depressed mothers. These dynamics suggest processes relevant to intergenerational transmission of depressive symptoms from caregivers to offspring.