A Multimodal Investigation of Empathic Stress During Acute Stress Exposure in Romantic Couples: Does Sleep Deprivation Play a Role?

Observing a loved one undergo a stressful experience can be a stressor in and of itself. However, the extent to which an observer can experience or "catch" another person's stress may depend on the observer's available resources. Here, we test how personal resources shape empathic stress by examining the impact of sleep deprivation on people's biopsychosocial responses while observing a romantic partner undergo a stressful experience.

In the lab (Nfinal=136 individuals, 68 couples), one partner underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) while the other partner observed. Prior to the lab visit, half of observers were randomly assigned to undergo partial sleep deprivation for two nights. During the TSST, we assessed observers' and speakers' subjective stress, non-verbal behavior, and physiological reactivity (cortisol and autonomic nervous system reactivity). We then examined the extent to which observers showed stress reactivity during their partner's TSST (i.e., vicarious stress) and the extent to which observers' stress reactivity covaried with speakers' stress reactivity (i.e., stress contagion).

Observers showed a vicarious stress response across self-report and physiological measures, but there was little evidence of stress contagion. That is, although watching one's partner undergo a stressor was associated with increased affective and physiological reactivity, those responses did not consistently align with their partners' responses. Sleep deprivation did not affect empathic stress.

Overall, these results show robust, multi-measure evidence of a vicarious stress response for observers that was unaffected by two nights of partial sleep deprivation.