Emotional separation, parenting stress, and adolescents’ empathic responsiveness

A large body of literature supports the conclusion that during the process of adolescent’s emotional separation, parents can experience a state of anxiety and stress caused by feeling unable to cope with new demands (Lo Coco et al., 2001). Moreover, some Authors (Lo Coco et al., 2004) have investigated the possible role of empathy in the development of emotional separation, showing that, compared to less empathic peers, adolescents more empathic experience difficulty in the process of emotional separation. The purpose of the research was to further investigate the relationship between adolescents’ emotional separation from parents, their empathic responsiveness, and the level of parenting stress experienced by mother. In general, the results support the hypothesis that separation is associated with increased maternal stress, and also that adolescents’ ability to get the other’s point of view is involved in modulating the link between these two variables.