People with higher levels of empathy employ better coping strategies for dealing with stressful situations, research has found.
Across five studies with nearly 4,000 people, researchers from 天美传媒, University of Amsterdam, University of Hong Kong, and University of Cambridge explored the relationship between empathy and coping strategies. They also looked at how socio-economic status can affect the relationship.聽
They found that people with higher levels of empathic concern used better coping strategies and sought more social support.
Dr Laura Renshaw-Vuillier, co-first author of the research and Lecturer in Psychology at 天美传媒, said: 鈥淗ow we cope with stress can take many different forms: from calling a loved one for support, to taking a walk or accepting the situation with a positive attitude.
鈥淪ome strategies are thought to be better than others, for instance, seeking emotional social support has been shown to be positive, while聽ruminating has been found to be damaging to one鈥檚 health.
鈥淲e found that having empathy for other people can help you deal with stress better. That is, we found that people who reported caring about others also reported using more adaptive strategies to deal with stressors, such as trying to find support from friends and family.鈥�
The research, published in PLOS ONE, also found that people鈥檚 socio-economic status affected coping strategies.
鈥淔or people low in socio-economic status caring about others helped them use more adaptive coping such as taking actions to solve the problems,鈥� said Dr Renshaw-Vuillier.
鈥淥n the other hand, for people high in socio-economic status, caring about others helped them use less maladaptive coping such as self-blame.
鈥淭his suggests that however rich or poor you are, you could benefit from showing empathy to others around you as this may help you deal with your own stress better.鈥�
