Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation are core components of social-emotional development. Regulating vicariously induced negative emotions is thought to support feeling empathy and sympathy for others in need, but empirical evidence for such effects is mixed. Moreover, despite the longstanding conceptual distinction between empathy and sympathy, most researchers refer to and measure these constructs interchangeably. This meta-analysis examined associations between emotion regulation and empathy and/or sympathy in childhood and adolescence, as well as potential methodological, study, and sample moderators. Analyses were conducted on 58 studies (75 effect sizes; N = 25,831). There was a significant and positive overall association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy (r = .19, p < .001); however, most scales assessing empathy were conflated with other constructs. Accounting for conflation, emotion regulation was related to sympathy (r = .24, p < .001) but not empathy (r = .04, p = .38). Moreover, the association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy was not significant when baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA reactivity were examined as proxies of emotion regulation. Results were largely similar across sample characteristics (e.g., age group, sex, and culture). Conceptual implications for differentiating empathy and sympathy are discussed, as well as methodological considerations to maximize the quality and clarity of research on emotion regulation, empathy, and sympathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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同理心、同情心和情绪调节：荟萃分析综述。


同理心、同情心和情绪调节是社会情绪发展的核心组成部分。人们认为，调节间接引发的负面情绪可以支持对有需要的人产生同理心和同情心，但这种影响的经验证据是混杂的。此外，尽管同理心和同情心之间长期以来存在概念上的区别，但大多数研究人员可以互换地引用和衡量这些结构。这项荟萃分析研究了儿童和青少年时期的情绪调节与同理心和/或同情心之间的关联，以及潜在的方法、研究和样本调节因素。对 58 项研究进行了分析（75 个效应量；N = 25,831）。情绪调节与同理心/同情心之间存在显着且正向的整体关联（r = .19，p < .001）；然而，大多数评估同理心的量表都与其他概念混为一谈。考虑到合并，情绪调节与同情心相关（r = .24，p < .001），但与同理心无关（r = .04，p = .38）。此外，当将基线呼吸性窦性心律失常（RSA）和RSA反应性作为情绪调节的指标进行检查时，情绪调节与同理心/同情心之间的关联并不显着。不同样本特征（例如年龄组、性别和文化）的结果基本相似。讨论了区分同理心和同情心的概念含义，以及最大限度地提高情绪调节、同理心和同情心研究的质量和清晰度的方法论考虑。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。