Empathic Stress in the Mother-Child Dyad: Multimodal Evidence for Empathic Stress in Children Observing Their Mothers During Direct Stress Exposure

Relationship closeness determines the propensity to spontaneously reproduce another's emotional and physiological stress response. We investigated whether psychosocial stress in mothers is causally linked to such empathic stress in children. Mothers (N = 76) completed either a standardized laboratory stressor or a stress-free control task, while their middle childhood-aged children (8-12 years old) were watching. Mother-child dyads simultaneously provided multiple cortisol, heart-rate, high-frequency heart-rate variability (HF-HRV), and subjective stress samples. We found that stress-group children had a greater propensity to show physiologically significant cortisol release, especially boys. Watching stressed mothers also triggered stronger subjective, state empathy, and HF-HRV stress responses, with the latter relying on elevated trait cognitive empathy ratings. Only in the stressed dyads, children's HF-HRV resonated with those of their mothers'. We conclude that young children, although only mildly stressed, spontaneously reproduce maternal stress.

Automated summary

The closeness of the parent-child relationship determines the likelihood of children spontaneously reproducing the emotional and physiological stress response of their mothers. This study investigated whether psychosocial stress in mothers is causally linked to empathic stress in children. The findings showed that children in the stress group were more likely to exhibit significant cortisol release, particularly boys. Watching stressed mothers also triggered stronger subjective and physiological stress responses in children, with the latter being influenced by cognitive empathy. Only in stressed parent-child pairs did the children's physiological responses resonate with those of their mothers. In conclusion, young children are capable of spontaneously reproducing their mother's stress response, even when mildly stressed.