An American study revealed a surprising correlation between emotional empathy and alcohol consumption: it would tend to make you drink more.
- People tend to drink more alcohol on days when they experience higher levels of affective empathy than usual.
- In contrast, cognitive empathy was not significantly related to alcohol consumption.
- This discovery could help prevent excessive alcohol consumption.
Do you strongly feel the emotions of others? Maybe you should watch your alcohol intake. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh suggest that individuals who have higher levels of emotional empathy than usual tend to consume more alcohol.
Iaffective empathy and alcohol consumption are linked
The researchers wanted to check if there was a link between alcohol consumption and affective empathy (empathy based on shared emotional experiences) or cognitive (ability to take another’s perspective). For this, they questioned about five hundred adult alcohol drinkers. Participants received questions on their smartphones at different times of the day to measure their level of affective and cognitive empathy in response to specific social interactions as well as the positive or negative emotions they experienced. They were also asked about the amount of alcohol they consumed that day.
The results reveal that individuals consumed more alcohol on days when they reported higher than average levels of affective empathy. Also, pplus positive affect (e.g. being relaxed, happy) increased during the day, the more likely individuals were to drink alcohol and to drink more. On the other hand, negative emotions (nervousness, sadness) did not influence alcohol consumption. Finally, there was no significant association between cognitive empathy and alcohol consumption.
Prevention of alcoholism: taking into account empathy to fight against excesses
Faced with the different results observed in their work, the researchers explain in their article published in the journal Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research June 1, 2023 : “Day-to-day changes in affective empathy may be important to consider in efforts to understand alcohol use.”
For the record, excessive alcohol consumption is associated with a variety of problems, including liver damage, road accidents and an increased risk of diseases such as cancer.
