Gender Role Traits Predict Dispositional and State Changes in Personal Distress, but Not Other Forms of Affective Empathy.

Associations between femininity and masculinity and three forms of affective empathy (emotional contagion, empathic concern, and personal distress) were assessed using overt dispositional measures and covert state measures of affective empathy. Only a positive relation between femininity and personal distress emerged as consistently robust across both types of empathy measures.