Dyadic empathy following childhood trauma: The role of hostile attribution bias in young adult couples.

Abstract

Objective: Cumulative childhood interpersonal trauma (CCIT) is associated with important outcomes within romantic relationships, including lower dyadic empathy. Dyadic empathy is comprised of perspective-taking, that is, putting oneself in the partner's place, and empathic concern, that is, emotions felt toward the partner's emotional experience. As empathic difficulties may affect the quality of romantic relationships, it is important to better understand the mechanisms underlying the links between CCIT and empathy toward a partner. Hostile attribution bias (i.e., the tendency to perceive others' intentions as negative), being positively linked to CCIT and negatively associated with empathy, appears to be a relevant, yet unexplored, mechanism in the link between CCIT and dyadic empathy. The present study examined the role of hostile attribution bias in the dyadic associations linking one's CCIT to their own as well as their partner's perspective-taking and empathic concern.

Method: A sample of 190 couples aged 18 to 29 completed online questionnaires.

Results: One's CCIT was positively related to their own hostile attribution bias, which was negatively associated with both their own perspective-taking and their partner's empathic concern.

Conclusion: Targeting hostile attributions among individuals with CCIT might constitute an interesting pathway to enhance their own and their partner's empathy within the relationship and, therefore, foster positive couple dynamics during young adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).