Empathy and emotion regulation are regarded as core psychological mechanisms shaping interpersonal functioning and mental health in young adults facing increasing academic and social demands. The aim of this article is to synthesize current evidence on the associations between cognitive and affective empathy, emotion regulation strategies, and empathic distress among university students, and to outline the implications of these links for well-being and burnout prevention. The methodological foundation is a critical literature review of contemporary conceptual and neurocognitive models of empathy, Gross's process model of emotion regulation, and empirical studies employing validated scales such as the QCAE, ERQ, and IRI-PD. The analysis demonstrates that cognitive empathy, being functionally tied to mentalizing and cognitive control, is more consistently associated with adaptive regulation strategies (particularly cognitive reappraisal) and lower personal distress. In contrast, affective empathy, especially under conditions of regulatory deficits and cultural norms favouring expressive suppression, predicts heightened empathic distress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. Emotion regulation strategies emerge as both mediators and moderators in the relationship between empathy and affective maladjustment. Based on the review, a conceptual model is proposed in which individual profiles of empathy and regulation constitute key predictors of psychological resilience or vulnerability among students, and directions for preventive and educational interventions are outlined.
A. Meiramova (Thu,) studied this question.