Empathic Accuracy and Adolescent Romantic Relationships

• NCJ Number: 225641
• Journal: Journal of Adolescence Volume: 31 Issue: 6 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 709-727
• Author(s): Peter T. Haugen; Deborah P. Welsh; James K. McNulty
• Date Published: December 2008
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A sample of 204 male-female couples, ranging in age from 14 to 21, were studied in order to determine whether “empathic accuracy” (ability to accurately read another’s cognitive and emotional states) was developmentally based, differed by gender, and was associated with adolescents’ satisfaction with their romantic relationships.

Abstract

The study found that on average, both male and female adolescents showed high levels of emphatic accuracy that were positively associated with their own and their partners’ relationship satisfaction. The direction of the associations that emerged, however, and the gender differences that characterized them, depended in part on the type of information being perceived; for example, although both males’ and females’ accuracy for discomfort and conflict were positively associated with partners’ satisfaction, males’, but not females’, accuracy for connection was negatively associated with their satisfaction in the relationship; and females’, but not males’, accuracy for persuasion was positively associated with partners’ satisfaction. Empathic accuracy was not significantly associated with age or the length of the relationship. The findings thus suggest that empathic accuracy may differ according to the types of emotions and thoughts being perceived, and reactions to these perceptions in the context of a romantic relationship will differ by gender. Data for this study were obtained from the Study of Tennessee Adolescent Romantic Relationships (STARR). Two groups of adolescent couples were recruited: middle adolescents (ages 14-17), and late adolescents (ages 17-21). Couples completed a battery of questionnaires, participated in three videotaped discussions, and watched and rated the second and third discussions in a video-recall procedure. Sources of disagreement were the topics for the second and third discussions. Couples’ levels of satisfaction with their relationship were measured with the Relationship Satisfaction Scale. 5 tables and 71 references