When Does Empathy Relate to Emotional Distress? The Moderating Roles of Emotion Regulation and Self-Other Boundaries

Abstract

Empathy is widely regarded as a social asset, yet it may also confer emotional risk. This study examines when empathy becomes maladaptive by testing the moderating roles of emotion regulation and self–other boundaries. In a sample of 205 adults (61% female; M age = 25.01, SD = 8.92), participants completed measures of affective and cognitive empathy, emotion regulation, self–other boundary protection, and emotional distress (depression, anxiety, stress). Affective empathy was positively associated with all distress outcomes, whereas cognitive empathy showed no direct effects. Moderation analyses (PROCESS Model 1) indicated a significant interaction between cognitive empathy and emotion suppression, such that cognitive empathy was positively associated with distress at higher levels of suppression but not at lower levels. In addition, self–other boundary difficulties significantly moderated the association between affective empathy and distress, with the positive relationship weakening or reversing as boundary protection increased. These findings challenge uniformly positive views of empathy, demonstrating that its psychological consequences depend on regulatory processes and the capacity to maintain self–other differentiation.