The Relationship Between Empathy,Childhood Emotional Neglect And Prosocial Behavior Tendency Among Undergraduates

Childhood emotional neglect refers to parents or primary caregivers being unable to meet children’s basic emotional needs,failing to respond to children’s various emotions in a timely manner,and neglecting the children’s emotional development and social interactions.Research has shown that experiencing emotional neglect during childhood impairs the normal development of individual’s social functioning,and empathy,a psychological ability closely related to individual’s early growth experience,is severely affected in the process of being ignored.Previous studies have discussed the influence of childhood emotional neglect on empathy in special groups,but according to the concept of mental health continuum,mental health and mental disorders are based on quantitative characteristics,and there is no clear boundary between normal behavior and psychopathological behavior.Therefore,it is necessary to investigate the effects of childhood emotional neglect on empathy levels in normal college students.In addition,previous research has mainly investigated whether childhood emotional neglect has a positive or negative impact on empathy levels,but there is a lack of exploration of the mediating mechanisms involved and a lack of consensus on whether it specifically affects cognitive empathy or affective empathy.Therefore,this study will delve into the potential mediating mechanisms of childhood emotional neglect on empathy and explore the relationship between childhood emotional neglect and neural responses to empathy by employing event-related potential(ERP)techniques.Based on literature analysis,this study first conducted a survey using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index(IRI)on 650 college students to understand the current level of empathy among college students.Then,the study used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire(CTQ)and the Prosocial Tendencies Measure(PTM)to investigate the impact of childhood emotional neglect on empathy and the mediating role of prosocial behavior tendencies.Finally,the study employed event-related potential(ERP)techniques to explore the neural relationship between childhood emotional neglect and cognitive empathy and affective empathy.The main findings of this study are as follows:(1)Female college students had significantly higher levels of empathy compared to male college students.Students from urban areas had significantly higher levels of empathy compared to students from rural areas.Students from intact families or stepfamilies had significantly higher levels of empathy compared to those from single-parent families or orphanages.(2)Childhood emotional neglect had a significant negative predictive effect on empathy,and prosocial behavior tendencies mediated the relationship between emotional neglect and empathy.(3)Individuals who experienced emotional neglect in childhood showed reduced emotional empathy towards others,which was reflected at the neural level by a negative correlation between empathic N2 response and childhood emotional neglect scores.In conclusion,negative developmental environments such as single-parent families and households with left-behind children hinder the development of individuals’ empathy levels.Experiencing emotional neglect during childhood leads to a decrease in individuals’ prosocial behavior tendencies,impairment of empathy abilities,and consequently,affects the normal development of individuals’ social functioning.