Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
Volume 23, Issue 2, Pages 99-104Publisher
HOGREFE & HUBER PUBLISHERS
DOI: 10.1027/1015-5759.23.2.99
Keywords
empathy index; children; adolescents; internal structure; sex differences
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The present study examined the internal structure of Bryant's (1982) Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents, a 22-itern questionnaire measure of dispositional affective empathy. Third graders (n = 817), fourth to sixth graders (n = 82), and eighth graders (n = 1,079) were studied. Factor analyses revealed that the empathy index is multidimensional, encompassing two subscales. The same two-factor solution emerged in all samples. The first factor, labeled empathic sadness, showed good reliability in the two larger samples. Sex differences were established in each sample, with girls reporting more empathic sadness than boys. The second factor, reflecting attitudes rather than feelings, showed weak reliability in all samples, and poor differentiation between the sexes in the two younger age samples. The findings seriously challenge the validity of the 22-item empathy index. Improvement of the scale as a measure of affective empathy is indicated.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available