Do pictures really say more than a thousand words? A network approach to early traumatic experience and empathic responding

<b>Background:</b> Empathy is essential for interpersonal relationships, yet remains difficult to measure. Some evidence suggests that early traumatic experiences leads to alterations in empathic responding. <b>Objective:</b> This study sought to differentiate connections between subtypes of childhood maltreatment, a pictorial test of affective empathy (PET), and self-reported empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index; IRI) by using network analysis approach to investigate the structure of relationships between childhood maltreatment and later empathic responding. <b>Method:</b> 301 participants completed the PET, the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form (ETISR-SF), the IRI, and questionnaires assessing current mood and perceived stress levels. <b>Results:</b> The PET showed a strong positive association with the IRI subscale empathic concern (EC), after conditioning on all other nodes in the network. EC proved to be a highly central node and was positively related to severity of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), yet not to childhood physical abuse or emotional maltreatment. Pathways between emotional maltreatment and physical abuse and the PET were indirect, passing through self-reported EC and CSA. <b>Conclusions:</b> Our study suggests that CSA more so than other childhood maltreatment experiences is associated with increased self-reported affective empathy, but is not captured directly through a pictorial test of affective empathy.

<b>研究背景：</b>共情(empathy)是人际交往的核心要素，但其量化评估仍存在诸多难点。现有研究证据表明，早期创伤经历会导致个体共情反应模式发生改变。<b>研究目的：</b>本研究旨在通过网络分析方法，探究童年虐待各亚型、情感共情图片测试（Pictorial Test of Affective Empathy，PET）与自我报告共情（人际反应指针量表(Interpersonal Reactivity Index，IRI)）之间的关联模式，以厘清童年虐待与后续共情反应间的关系结构。<b>研究方法：</b>共有301名受试者完成了情感共情图片测试（PET）、早期创伤自评量表简版（Early Trauma Inventory Self Report-Short Form，ETISR-SF）、人际反应指针量表（IRI），以及评估当前情绪与感知压力水平的问卷。<b>研究结果：</b>在控制网络中其余所有节点的条件下，PET与IRI的共情关注（empathic concern，EC）维度呈现显著正相关。EC被证实为网络中的核心节点，且与童年性虐待（childhood sexual abuse，CSA）的严重程度呈正相关，但与童年躯体虐待或情感虐待无显著关联。情感虐待、躯体虐待与PET之间的关联均为间接关联，需通过自我报告的EC与CSA进行传导。<b>研究结论：</b>本研究表明，相较于其他童年虐待经历，童年性虐待（CSA）与更高水平的自我报告情感共情相关，但这一关联无法通过PET直接捕捉到。