Why life events matter: Exploring Empathic Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem across adolescents and young adults

People capable of understanding and empathize with others’ feelings (empathic self-efficacy; PESE Di Giunta et al., 2010) likely benefit from supportive interpersonal relationships that affect their evaluation of self-worth (self-esteem; SE; Rosenberg, 1965; Supervía et al., 2023). However, little is known about whether gender differences and adverse life events (NLE) moderate this across developmental stages. We addressed this using cross-sectional data (baseline) from 161 Italian adolescents (14-16yrs; 42.9% Women) and 254 young adults (18-35yrs; 54.7% Women), and daily diary data from the same young adults over 21 days. To this end, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Dynamic SEM (DSEM). SEM results in the adult sample (baseline) revealed that the effect of PESE on SE was stronger when NLE were low (b=1.91; p<.001) compared to high NLE (b=-1.56; p<.001) and for men (b=.35; p<.001) than women (b=.17; p<.001). For adolescents, PESE positively predicted SE only for girls (b=.68; p=.008) with no significant moderation by NLE. In line with baseline data, DSEM, at the daily-level, showed that adults’ PESE positively predicted next-day SE on days with low NLE (b=.13; p=.003), whereas it was non-significant on days with high NLE (b=.04; p=.189). This suggests that empathic competencies enhance self-worth, likely through better social bonds. However, the effect of PESE on SE is buffered by NLE: when experiencing low NLE, people benefit from PESE; however, this benefit disappears with high NLE, suggesting a shift toward self-focused coping mechanisms. The absence of NLE moderation in adolescents might reflect their more protected social environment.