Emotional expression and empathy in an online peer support platform.

Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol 70(6), Nov 2023, 671-681; doi:10.1037/cou0000705Online peer groups are a popular channel for mental health support, but the evidence for their effectiveness is mixed. The present study focused on empathy to better identify which supporters’ comments regulated seekers’ distress. We also explored how seekers’ emotions may shape supporters’ empathy. Posts (N = 7,646) published on an online peer support platform (“Emotional first aid [ERAN]”) were sourced. Supporters’ empathy (empathic concern, personal distress, exploration, and interpretation) and seekers’ emotional expressions (soft negative, hard negative, and positive) were coded. We hypothesized that (1) empathic concern, exploration, and interpretation (but not personal distress) would predict better seekers’ emotions (lower negative emotions and greater positive ones); (2) support seekers’ soft negative and positive emotions would predict supporters’ empathic concern and cognitive empathy (i.e., exploration and interpretation); but that (3) hard negative emotions would predict supporters’ personal distress. A set of cumulative mixed models revealed that empathic concern predicted more seekers’ positive emotions. However, cognitive empathy predicted more negative seekers’ emotions. Seekers’ soft negative emotions predicted greater expressions of supporters’ empathy (of all types). Finally, seekers’ positive emotions predicted more supporters’ empathi...
Source: Journal of Counseling Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research