Psychometric Analysis of a Scale of Empathy in Mexican children
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22235/cp.v13i2.1878Keywords:
children, empathy, pro-sociality, scale, sympathyAbstract
Empathy is an affective response that allows establishing healthy relationships, generating a better coexistence between individuals, therefore, it is important to have valid and reliable instruments to measure that construct. The main goal of the present research was the adaptation and translation of an empathy scale for children. The scale has 28 items, it was applied to 293 children between 8 and 12 years old in Mexico City. Results showed a Cronbach's alpha of .753 on the overall scale, leaving 10 items. The validity of the construct was confirmed through the exploratory factorial analysis of principal components with varimax rotation, from that analysis three factors were obtained that explain 36.86% of variance. A confirmatory factorial analysis was also carried out, showing good indexes of adjustment of the model.
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References
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Georgiou, G., Kimonis, E. R., & Fanti, K. A. (2018). What do others feel? Cognitive empathy deficits explain the association between callous- unemotional traits and conduct problems among preschool children. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1-21 doi: 10.1080/17405629.2018.1478810
Hepach, R., & Warneken, F. (2018). Early development can reveal the foundation of human prosociality. Current Opinion in Psychology 20, v–viii doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.02.001
Hojat, M., Louis, D. Z., Markham, F. W., Wender, R., Rabinowitz, C., & Gonnella, J. S. (2011). Physiciansʼ Empathy and Clinical Outcomes for Diabetic Patients. Academic Medicine, 86(3), 359–364. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182086fe1
Jeffrey D.I. (2019). Exploring Empathy with Medical Students. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Kim, H., & Han, S. (2018). Does personal distress enhance empathic interaction or block it? Personality and Individual Differences, 124, 77–83. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.12.005
Lawrence, E. J., Shaw, P., Baker, D., Baron-Cohen, S., & David, A. S. (2004). Measuring empathy: reliability and validity of the Empathy Quotient. Psychological Medicine, 34(5), 911–919. doi: 10.1017/S0033291703001624
Leibetseder, M., Laireiter, A.-R., & Köller, T. (2001). E-Skala: Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Empathie – Beschreibung und psychometrische Eigenschaften. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 1, 70-85.
Levy, J., Goldstein, A., & Feldman, R. (2019). The neural development of empathy is sensitive to caregiving and early trauma. Nature communications, 10: 1905. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09927-y
López-Pérez, B., Ambrona, T. & Márquez-González (2014). Adaptación y validación de un instrumento para la evaluación de la empatía en niños y adolescentes: TECA-NA. Psicología conductual = behavioral psychology: Revista internacional de psicología clínica y de la salud, 22(1), 5-18.
Mafessoni, F., & Lachman, M. (2019). The complexity of understanding others as the evolutionary origin of empathy and emotional contagion. Scientific Reports, 9, 1-14 doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41835-5
Mazza, M., Pino, M. C., Mariano, M., Tempesta, D., Ferrara, M., De Berardis, D., … Valenti, M. (2014). Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(10), 1–6. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00791
Melis. A. P., & Warneken, F. (2016). The psychology of cooperation: Insights from chimpanzees and children. Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews, 25, 297-305 doi: 10.1002/evan.21507
Mestre, M. V., Samper, P., Frías, M. D., & Tur, A. M. (2009). Are women more empathetic than men? A longitudinal study in adolescence. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 76–83. doi: 10.1017/S1138741600001499
Meyza, K. Z., Ben-Ami Bartal, I., Monfils, M. H., Pankseep, J. B., & Knapska, E. (2017). The roots of empathy: Through the lens of rodent models. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 76, 216-234. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016
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Spreng, R. N., McKinnon, M. C., Mar, R. A., & Levine, B. (2009). The Toronto empathy questionnaire: Scale development and initial validation of a factor-analytic solution to multiple empathy measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(1), 62–71. doi: 10.1080/00223890802484381
Svetlova, M., Nichols, S. R., & Brownell, C. A. (2010). Toddlers’ Prosocial Behavior: From Instrumental to Empathic to Altruistic Helping. Child Development, 81(6), 1814–1827. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01512.x
Szanto, T. & Krueger, J. Topoi. (2019). Introduction: Empathy, Shared Emotions, and Social Identity, Topoi, 38, 153-162. doi:10.1007/s11245-019-09641-w
Thompson, N. M., Uusberg, A., Gross, J.J., & Chakrabarti, B. (2019). Empathy and emotion regulation: An integrative account. Progress in Brain Research, 247, 273-304. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.024.
van der Zee, E., & Derksen, J. J. L. (2019). Reconsidering Empathy Deficits in Children and Adolescents with Autism. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, published online, March, 2019 doi: 10.1007/s10882-019-09669-1
Warden, D., & MacKinnon, S. (2003). Prosocial children, bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21(3), 367–385. doi: 10.1348/026151003322277757
Warneken, F. (2017). How Children Solve the Two Challenges of Cooperation. Annual Review of Psychology 69, 205-229. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011813
Wied, M., Maas, C., Goozen, S. V., Vermande, M., Engels, R., Meeus, W., Matthys, W., & Goudena, P. (2007). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23(2), 99–104. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759.23.2.99
Zoll, C., & Enz, S. (2005). A questionnaire to assess affective and cognitive empathy in children. Journal of Child Psychology, 15, 165-174
Alcorta-Garza, A., González-Guerrero, J. F., Tavitas-Herrera, S. E., Rodríguez-Lara, F. J., & Hojat, M. (2005). Validación de la escala de empatía medica de Jefferson en estudiantes de medicina mexicanos. Salud Mental, 28(5), 57–63.
Baron-Cohen, S. (2000). Theory of Mind and Autism : A Review. International Review of Research in Mental Retardation, 23(1), 169–184. doi: 10.1016/S0074-7750(00)80010-5
Bautista-Hernández, G., Vera, J. A., Tánori, J., & Valdés, A. (2016). Propiedades psicométricas de una escala para medir empatía en estudiantes de secundaria en México. Revista Electrónica “Actualidades Investigativas En Educación” 16(3), 1–20. doi: 10.15517/aie.v16i3.25959
Begeer, S., Gevers, C., Clifford, P., Verhoeve, M., Kat, K., Hoddenbach, E., & Boer, F. (2011). Theory of mind training in children with autism: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(8), 997–1006. doi: 10.1007/s10803-010-1121-9
Bernal-Gamboa, R. (2019). Conducta de ayuda en ratas ¿Acción o hábito? Universitas Psychologica, 18, 1-7 doi: 10.11144/Javeriana.upsy18-1.cara
Bryant, B. K. (1982). An Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents. Child Development, 53 (1), 413-425.
Cigna, M.-H., Guay, J.-P., & Renaud, P. (2017). Psychopathic traits and their relation to facial affect recognition. Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 210–215. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.06.014
Comité de Ética de Investigación de la Facultad de Psicología. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psicologia.unam.mx/comite-de-etica-de-investigacion-de-la-facultad-de-psicologia/
Código ético de la Sociedad Mexicana de Psicología. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psicologia.unam.mx/documentos/pdf/comite_etica/CODIGO_ETICO_SMP.pdf
Costello, E. J. (2016). Early Detection and Prevention of Mental Health Problems: Developmental Epidemiology and Systems of Support. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 45(6), 710–717. doi: 10.1080/15374416.2016.1236728
Christov-Moore, L., Simpson, E. A., Coudé, G., Grigaityte, K., Iacoboni, M., & Ferrari, P.F. (2014). Empathy: gender effects in brain and behavior. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 46, 604–627 doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.001
Cuff, B. M. P., Brown, S. J., Taylor, L., & Howat, D. J. (2016). Empathy: A Review of the Concept. Emotion Review, 8(2), 144–153. doi: 10.1177/1754073914558466
Decety, J., Bartal, I. B.-A., Uzefovsky, F., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2016). Empathy as a driver of prosocial behaviour: highly conserved neurobehavioural mechanisms across species. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1686), 20150077. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0077
Demetriou, H. (2018). Empathy, Emotion and Education. Palgrave Macmillan UK
de Waal, F. B. M. (2008). Putting the altruism back into altruism: the evolution of empathy. Annual Reviews of Psychology, 59, 279-300. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625
de Waal, F. B. M. & Preston, S. D. (2017). Mammalian empathy: behavioural manifestations and neural basis. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 18, 498–509 doi: 10.1038/nrn.2017.140
Dollan, M., & Fullam, R. (2004). Theory of mind and mentalizing ability in antisocial personality disorders with and without psychopathy. Psychological Medicine, 34(6), 1093–1102. doi: 10.1017/S0033291704002028
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Murphy, B. C., & Jones, S. (1998). Contemporaneous and longitudinal prediction of children’s sympathy from dispositional regulation and emotionality. Developmental Psychology, 34, 910-924.
Estévez, E., Jiménez, T. I., & Segura, L. (2019). Emotional intelligence and empathy in aggressors and victims of school violence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 111, 488-496. doi: 10.1037/edu0000292
Garton, A. F. & Gringart, E. (2005). The development of a scale to measure empathy in 8- and 9-year old children. Australian Journal of Education and Developmental Psychology, 5, 17-25.
Georgiou, G., Kimonis, E. R., & Fanti, K. A. (2018). What do others feel? Cognitive empathy deficits explain the association between callous- unemotional traits and conduct problems among preschool children. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1-21 doi: 10.1080/17405629.2018.1478810
Hepach, R., & Warneken, F. (2018). Early development can reveal the foundation of human prosociality. Current Opinion in Psychology 20, v–viii doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2018.02.001
Hojat, M., Louis, D. Z., Markham, F. W., Wender, R., Rabinowitz, C., & Gonnella, J. S. (2011). Physiciansʼ Empathy and Clinical Outcomes for Diabetic Patients. Academic Medicine, 86(3), 359–364. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182086fe1
Jeffrey D.I. (2019). Exploring Empathy with Medical Students. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Kim, H., & Han, S. (2018). Does personal distress enhance empathic interaction or block it? Personality and Individual Differences, 124, 77–83. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.12.005
Lawrence, E. J., Shaw, P., Baker, D., Baron-Cohen, S., & David, A. S. (2004). Measuring empathy: reliability and validity of the Empathy Quotient. Psychological Medicine, 34(5), 911–919. doi: 10.1017/S0033291703001624
Leibetseder, M., Laireiter, A.-R., & Köller, T. (2001). E-Skala: Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Empathie – Beschreibung und psychometrische Eigenschaften. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 1, 70-85.
Levy, J., Goldstein, A., & Feldman, R. (2019). The neural development of empathy is sensitive to caregiving and early trauma. Nature communications, 10: 1905. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-09927-y
López-Pérez, B., Ambrona, T. & Márquez-González (2014). Adaptación y validación de un instrumento para la evaluación de la empatía en niños y adolescentes: TECA-NA. Psicología conductual = behavioral psychology: Revista internacional de psicología clínica y de la salud, 22(1), 5-18.
Mafessoni, F., & Lachman, M. (2019). The complexity of understanding others as the evolutionary origin of empathy and emotional contagion. Scientific Reports, 9, 1-14 doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41835-5
Mazza, M., Pino, M. C., Mariano, M., Tempesta, D., Ferrara, M., De Berardis, D., … Valenti, M. (2014). Affective and cognitive empathy in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8(10), 1–6. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00791
Melis. A. P., & Warneken, F. (2016). The psychology of cooperation: Insights from chimpanzees and children. Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews, 25, 297-305 doi: 10.1002/evan.21507
Mestre, M. V., Samper, P., Frías, M. D., & Tur, A. M. (2009). Are women more empathetic than men? A longitudinal study in adolescence. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 76–83. doi: 10.1017/S1138741600001499
Meyza, K. Z., Ben-Ami Bartal, I., Monfils, M. H., Pankseep, J. B., & Knapska, E. (2017). The roots of empathy: Through the lens of rodent models. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 76, 216-234. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016
Pérez Manrique, A., & Gomila, A. (2018). The comparative study of empathy: sympathetic concern and empathic perspective-taking in non-human animals. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 93, 1-20. doi: 10.1111/brv.12342
Rosen, J. B., Brand, M., & Kalbe, E. (2016). Empathy Mediates the Effects of Age and Sex on Altruistic Moral Decision Making. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 10(4), 1–16. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00067
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2009). Empathic processing: its cognitive and affective dimensions and neuroanatomical basis. En J., Decety & W., Ickes, (Eds.) The Social Neuroscience of Empathy (pp. 215-232). Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: MIT Press.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G. (2011). The Neural Bases for Empathy. The Neuroscientist, 17(1), 18–24. doi: 10.1177/1073858410379268
Smith, A. (2006). Cognitive Empathy and Emotional Empathy in Human Behavior and Evolution. The Psychological Record, 56, 3-21.
Song, Y., & Shi, M. (2017). Associations between empathy and big five personality traits among Chinese undergraduate medical students. PloS one, 12, e0171665. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0171665
Spreng, R. N., McKinnon, M. C., Mar, R. A., & Levine, B. (2009). The Toronto empathy questionnaire: Scale development and initial validation of a factor-analytic solution to multiple empathy measures. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(1), 62–71. doi: 10.1080/00223890802484381
Svetlova, M., Nichols, S. R., & Brownell, C. A. (2010). Toddlers’ Prosocial Behavior: From Instrumental to Empathic to Altruistic Helping. Child Development, 81(6), 1814–1827. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01512.x
Szanto, T. & Krueger, J. Topoi. (2019). Introduction: Empathy, Shared Emotions, and Social Identity, Topoi, 38, 153-162. doi:10.1007/s11245-019-09641-w
Thompson, N. M., Uusberg, A., Gross, J.J., & Chakrabarti, B. (2019). Empathy and emotion regulation: An integrative account. Progress in Brain Research, 247, 273-304. doi:10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.03.024.
van der Zee, E., & Derksen, J. J. L. (2019). Reconsidering Empathy Deficits in Children and Adolescents with Autism. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, published online, March, 2019 doi: 10.1007/s10882-019-09669-1
Warden, D., & MacKinnon, S. (2003). Prosocial children, bullies and victims: An investigation of their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21(3), 367–385. doi: 10.1348/026151003322277757
Warneken, F. (2017). How Children Solve the Two Challenges of Cooperation. Annual Review of Psychology 69, 205-229. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011813
Wied, M., Maas, C., Goozen, S. V., Vermande, M., Engels, R., Meeus, W., Matthys, W., & Goudena, P. (2007). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23(2), 99–104. doi: 10.1027/1015-5759.23.2.99
Zoll, C., & Enz, S. (2005). A questionnaire to assess affective and cognitive empathy in children. Journal of Child Psychology, 15, 165-174
Published
2019-10-01
How to Cite
Mason, T., Calleja, N., Reynoso-Cruz, J. E., & Bernal-Gamboa, R. (2019). Psychometric Analysis of a Scale of Empathy in Mexican children. Ciencias Psicológicas, 13(2), 223–234. https://doi.org/10.22235/cp.v13i2.1878
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