Is it better to receive than to give? Empathy in the conflict-distress relationship.

J Occup Health Psychol

Baylor University, Hankamer School of Business, Department of Management, One Bear Place #98006, Waco, TX 76798-8006, USA.

Published: July 2010

The moderating effect of partner empathy on the relationship between both directions of work-family conflict (work-to-family and family-to-work) and psychological distress of both the job incumbent and partner are examined in this study. Considering empathy as a specific dimension of emotional social support, we hypothesized that receiving empathy would buffer negative spillover to the job incumbent while giving empathy would exacerbate negative crossover to the partner. A study of 270 job incumbents and their partners revealed that receiving partner empathy fully moderated spillover effects due to family-to-work conflict but had no effects with work-to-family conflict. We also found it interesting that giving partner empathy moderated the crossover effects on family-to-work conflict but had no effects with work-to-family conflict. Implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019620DOI Listing

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