Online peer groups are a popular channel for mental health support, but the evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. The present study focused on empathy to better identify which supporters' comments regulated seekers' distress. We also explored how seekers' emotions may shape supporters' empathy. Posts (N = 7,646) published on an online peer support platform ("Emotional first aid [ERAN]") were sourced. Supporters' empathy (empathic concern, personal distress, exploration, and interpretation) and seekers' emotional expressions (soft negative, hard negative, and positive) were coded. We hypothesized that (1) empathic concern, exploration, and interpretation (but not personal distress) would predict better seekers' emotions (lower negative emotions and greater positive ones); (2) support seekers' soft negative and positive emotions would predict supporters' empathic concern and cognitive empathy (i.e., exploration and interpretation); but that (3) hard negative emotions would predict supporters' personal distress. A set of cumulative mixed models revealed that empathic concern predicted more seekers' positive emotions. However, cognitive empathy predicted more negative seekers' emotions. Seekers' soft negative emotions predicted greater expressions of supporters' empathy (of all types). Finally, seekers' positive emotions predicted more supporters' empathic concern and less personal distress, but also predicted less cognitive empathy (i.e., exploration). A secondary analysis found that this pattern of results differed to some extent as a function of the supporters' role as anonymous peers or the professional moderator. These findings suggest that empathy is a key component in online mental support platforms and that it may make online interactions more effective through emotional regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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在线同伴支持平台中的情感表达和同理心。

在线同伴群体是心理健康支持的流行渠道，但其有效性的证据却参差不齐。本研究的重点是同理心，以更好地识别哪些支持者的评论调节了寻求者的痛苦。我们还探讨了寻求者的情绪如何塑造支持者的同理心。来源是在线同伴支持平台（“情绪急救 [ERAN]”）上发布的帖子（N = 7,646）。支持者的同理心（移情关注、个人痛苦、探索和解释）和寻求者的情绪表达（软消极、硬消极和积极）被编码。我们假设（1）移情关注、探索和解释（但不是个人痛苦）可以预测更好的寻求者情绪（较低的负面情绪和较高的积极情绪）；（2）支持寻求者的软消极和积极情绪会预测支持者的移情关注和认知移情（即探索和解释）；但（3）强烈的负面情绪可以预测支持者的个人痛苦。一组累积的混合模型显示，移情关注可以预测更多寻求者的积极情绪。然而，认知同理心预示着更多消极寻求者的情绪。寻求者的温和负面情绪预示着支持者（所有类型）更多的同理心表达。最后，寻求者的积极情绪预示着更多支持者的同理心关注和更少的个人痛苦，但也预示着更少的认知同理心（即探索）。二次分析发现，这种结果模式在某种程度上因支持者作为匿名同行或专业主持人的角色而有所不同。这些发现表明，同理心是在线心理支持平台的关键组成部分，它可能通过情绪调节使在线互动更加有效。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2023 APA，保留所有权利）。