Effects of parental empathy and emotion regulation on social competence and emotional/behavioral problems of school-age children

Abstract

Importance: Parents take the lead in parent–child interactions and their emotion regulation ability and empathy during parenting may be associated with children’s emotional/behavioral problems. However, the specific mechanisms underlying these associations remain unclear. Objective: The present study aimed to explore the effect of parental empathy and emotional regulation on social competence and emotional/behavioral problems in school-age children. Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted with 274 parents of 8–11-year-old children using Achenbach’s Child Behavior Checklist, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy. Results: Children with emotional/behavioral problems (n = 37) had relatively lower social competence than children in a matched control group (n = 37). Compared with the parents of children in the control group, parents of children with emotional/behavioral problems had significantly lower cognitive empathy scores, mainly manifested by low perspective-taking and online simulation abilities. Mediation analysis showed that parental cognitive empathy had an indirect effect on children’s emotional/behavioral problems through children’s social competence. Interpretation: Parental empathy may have a subtle influence on the social competence of school-aged children, which further affects the severity of children’s emotional/behavioral problems.