Bryant’s Empathy IndexStructure and Measurement Invariance across Gender in a Sample of Primary School-Aged Children

  1. Beatriz Lucas-Molina 1
  2. Alicia Pérez-Albéniz 2
  3. Marta Giménez-Dasí 1
  4. Gema Martín-Seoane 3
  1. 1 Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
  2. 2 Universidad de la Rioja (Spain)
  3. 3 Universidad Complutense de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR 02p0gd045

Erakutsi afiliazioak +
Aldizkaria:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Argitalpen urtea: 2016

Alea: 19

Mota: Artikulua

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2016.44 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openSarbide irekia editor

Beste argitalpen batzuk: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Garapen Iraunkorreko Helburuak

Laburpena

The purpose of this study was to examine the dimensional structure and measurement invariance of Bryant’s Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescents (IECA) (Bryant, 1982) across gender in a representative sample of primary school-aged children in Spain. The sample consisted of 2,050 children (50.80% girls), with a mean age of 9.80 years (SD = 1.24), recruited from 27 primary schools. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The model that presented the best fit indices was Lasa, Holgado, Carrasco, and del Barrio’s (2008) three-factor model: Understanding Feelings, Feelings of Sadness, and Tearful Reaction. The levels of internal consistency for the subscales ranged from .76 to .83. In addition, the results partially support the measurement invariance of the IECA across gender. When the latent means of the empathy dimensions were compared across gender, statistically significant differences were found. These results coincide with those found in the literature showing the multidimensionality of the IECA. Specifically, the findings support its three-factor structure and its invariance across gender, making it a very useful instrument for exploring the expression of empathy in primary school children.

Erreferentzia bibliografikoak

  • Allemand M., Steiger A. E., & Helmut A. F. (2015). Empathy development in adolescence predicts social competencies in adulthood. Journal of Personality, 83, 229–241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12098
  • Baron-Cohen S., & Wheelwright S. (2004). The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 163–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:JADD. 0000022607.19833.00
  • Batson C. D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social psychological answer. Hillsdale, MI: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  • Bryant B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 53, 413–425. http://dx.doi. org/10.2307/1128984
  • Byrne B. M. (2008). Testing for multigroup equivalence of a measuring instrument: A walk through the process. Psicothema, 20, 872–882.
  • Cheung G. W., & Rensvold R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233–255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5
  • Dadds M. R., Hunter K., Hawes D. J., Frost A. D. J., Vassallo S., Bunn P., … El Masry Y. (2008). Measure of cognitive and affective empathy in children using parent ratings. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 39, 111–122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0075-4
  • Davis M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
  • Davis M. H. (1996). Empathy. A social psychological approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
  • De Wied M., Maas C., van Goozen S., Vermande M., Engels R., Meeus W., … Goudena P. (2007). Bryant’s empathy index: A closer examination of its internal structure. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 23, 99–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.23.2.99
  • Del Barrio V., Aluja A., & Garcia L. F. (2004). Bryant’s empathy index for children and adolescents: Psychometric properties in the Spanish language. Psychological Reports, 95, 257–262.
  • Eisenberg N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 665–697. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.665
  • Eisenberg N., & Fabes R. A. (1990). Empathy: Conceptualization, measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 131–149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00991640
  • Eisenberg N., Spinrad T. L., & Morris A. S. (2013). Prosocial development. In P. D. Zelazo (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of developmental psychology (pp. 300–325). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Hoffman M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development. Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: University Press.
  • Hogan R. (1969). Development of an empathy scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 307–316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0027580
  • Hu L., & Bentler P. M. (1999). Cut off criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6, 1–55. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/10705519909540118
  • Jolliffe D., & Farrington D. P. (2004). Empathy and offending: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9, 441–476. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.avb.2003.03.001
  • Lasa A., Holgado F. P., Carrasco M. A., & del Barrio M. V. (2008). The structure of Bryant’s empathy index for children: A cross-validation study. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 11, 670–677.
  • Leibetseder M., Laireiter A. R., & Köller T. (2007). Structural analysis of the E-scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 547–561. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.paid.2006.08.002
  • Mestre V., Nácher M. J., Samper P., & Turcar A. M. (2002). Evaluación del desarrollo moral [Assessment of moral development]. In V. Del Barrio (Coord.), Evaluación psicológica en la infancia y la adolescencia [Child and adolescent psychological assessment] (pp. 317–352). Madrid, Spain: UNED.
  • Mehrabian A., & Epstein N. A. (1972). A measure of emotional empathy. Journal of Personality, 40, 525–543.
  • Muthén L. B. K., & Muthén B. O. (2012). MPlus: Stastical analysis with latent variables. User’s guide. (7th Ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
  • Strayer J. (1987). Affective and cognitive perspectives on empathy. In N. Eisenberg & J. Strayer (Eds.), Empathy and its development (pp. 218–245). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tran U. S., Laireiter A. K., Schmitt D. P., Neuner C., Leibetseder M., Szente-Voracek S. L., & Voracek M. (2013). Factorial structure and convergent and discriminant validity of the E (Empathy) Scale. Psychological Reports, 113, 441–463.
  • Zhou Q., Valiente C., & Eisenberg N. (2003). Empathy and its measurement. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Positive psychological assessment: A handbook of models and measures (pp. 269–284). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Datuen iturria: Dialnet