ArticleThe Gerontologist2020
Does Empathy Have a Cost? Older Adults and Social Partners Experiencing Problems.
Article in The Gerontologist, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Spousal Discrepancies in Perceived Needs of People Living with Alzheimer's Disease: A Mixed-Methods Study of Caregivers' Perspective Taking and Dyadic Communication.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026Article
- Receiving caregiver support and its association with hair hormones in people living with Alzheimer's disease: The role of caregivers' perspective taking.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Ecological Momentary Assessment to Measure Social Connectedness in Older Adults: Integrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Review
- Empathy is associated with older adults' social behaviors and verbal emotional expressions throughout the day.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Being Under-Benefited and Perceived Stress in the Relationship Between Aging Parents and Adult Children: The Moderating Role of Empathy.Innovation in aging · 2024Article
- Empathy and Coping: Older Adults' Interpersonal Tensions and Mood throughout the Day.Gerontology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesEmpathy underlies older adults' awareness and responses to their social partners' needs, but it is unclear whether such awareness is beneficial or harmful to older adults' well-being. We examined whether older adults' empathy was associated with having encounters with social partners incurring problems and their own well-being throughout the day. RESEARCH DESIGN AND
methodsParticipants were adults aged more than 65 years from the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study. These older adults (n = 313) rated empathy and indicated social partners' problems (e.g., health, emotional, and financial problems) in a baseline interview. They also reported encounters with social partners and their mood every 3 hr over 5-6 days.
resultsMultiple regressions showed that more empathic older adults reported a greater proportion of social partners with major life problems than less empathic older adults. Older adults' empathy was not associated with their contact or negative encounters with social partners experiencing problems. Multilevel models revealed that encounters with these social partners had negative consequences for older adults' mood throughout the day; however, these consequences were reduced in more empathic older adults. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This study emphasizes the importance of empathy in late life and refines our understanding of older adults' social lives and well-being. Findings carry implications for interventions that aim to protect older adults' well-being when their close others incur crises.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.