Dimensions

PlumX

How to Cite
Lemos, V., & Richaud, M. C. (2021). A New Multidimensional Questionnaire of Empathy for Early and Middle Adolescents in Spanish. International Journal of Psychological Research, 14(1), 91–105. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.5030
License terms
The work that is sent to this journal must be original, not published or sent to be published elsewhere; and if it is accepted for publication, authors will agree to transfer copyright to International Journal of Psychological Research. 

To give up copyright, the authors allow that, International Journal of Psychological Research, distribute the work more broadly, check for the reuse by others and take care of the necessary procedures for the registration and administration of copyright; at the same time, our editorial board represents the interests of the author and allows authors to re-use his work in various forms. In response to the above, authors transfer copyright to the journal, International Journal of Psychological Research. This transfer does not imply other rights which are not those of authorship (for example those that concern about patents). Likewise, preserves the authors rights to use the work integral or partially in lectures, books and courses, as well as make copies for educational purposes. Finally, the authors may use freely the tables and figures in its future work, wherever make explicit reference to the previous publication in International Journal of Psychological Research. The assignment of copyright includes both virtual rights and forms of the article to allow the editorial to disseminate the work in the manner which it deems appropriate. 

The editorial board reserves the right of amendments deemed necessary in the application of the rules of publication.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a Multidimensional Questionnaire of Empathy for Adolescents, since a model of cognitive social neuroscience, operationalizing the dimensions of emotional contagion, self-awareness, perspective-taking, emotional regulation, and empathic attitude. For the psychometric study of the instrument, 320 young adolescents in school participated, from both genders (125 male, 195 female), aged 13 to 16 (M = 14.23; SD = .95). The discriminant power of the items was evaluated, as well as the underlying structure of the instrument, its internal consistency, and different evidences of external, convergent, discriminant, and group-comparison validity. The results indicated that all the items were discriminative. The adjustment indexes of confirmatory factorial analysis allowed confirming the pentafactorial structure of the scale, consisting of 15 items. The internal consistency indexes of the different dimensions were between moderate and adequate. Likewise, differences in empathy between men and women were analyzed, the results of which indicated differences in favor of women. The different collected evidences of validity were consistent with what was expected theoretically. In this way it is possible to conclude that this Multidimensional Empathy Questionnaire for Adolescents (CMEA) is a valid and reliable measure for the evaluation of empathy in adolescents.

Keywords:

References

Akaike, H. (1987). Factor Analysis and AIC. In E. Parzen, K. Tanabe, G. & Kitagawa (Eds.), Selected Papers of Hirotugu Akaike. Springer Series in Statistics (Perspectives in Statistics) (pp. 371-386) Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1694-0_29.

Allemand, M., Steiger, A. E., & Fend, H. A. (2015). Empathy development in adolescence predicts social competencies in adulthood. Journal of personality, 83 (2), 229–241. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12098.

American Psychological Association. (2010). American Psychological Association ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. American Psychological Association. http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx.

Ang, R. P., & Goh, D. H. (2010). Cyberbullying among adolescents: The role of affective and cognitive empathy, and gender. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 41, 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-010-0176-3.

Ato, M., López-García, J. J., & Benavente, A. (2013). Un sistema de clasificación de los diseños de investigación en psicología. Anales de Psicología, 29 (3), 1038–1059. https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.29.3.178511.

Baca, P. R. (2016). Propiedades psicométricas del test de empatía cognitiva y afectiva en estudiantes no universitarios. Cátedra Villarreal-Psicología, 1 (1), 99–116. http://revistas.unfv.edu.pe/index.php/RCV/article/view/127/123.

Balabanian, C., & Lemos, V. N. (2018). Desarrollo y estudio psicométrico de una escala para evaluar conducta prosocial en adolescentes. Revista Iberoamericana de Diagnóstico y Evaluación Psicológica (RIDEP), 48 (3), 177–188. https://doi.org/10.21865/RIDEP48.3.15.

Bandalos, D., & Finney, S. (2010). Factor Analysis: Exploratory and Confirmatory. In G. R. Hancock & R. O. Mueller (Eds.),The Reviewer’s guide to quantitative methods(pp. 98-122). Routledge.

Batanova, M., & Loukas, A. (2014). Unique and interactive effects of empathy, family, and school factors on early adolescents’ aggression. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43 (11), 1890–1902. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0051-1.

Bianchin, M., & Angrilli, A. (2012). Gender differences in emotional responses: A psychological study. Physiology & Behavior, 105 (4), 925–932. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.10.031.

Blair, R. J. R. (1995). A cognitive developmental approach to morality: Investigating the psychopath. Cognition, 57 (1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(95)00676-P.

Blakemore, S. J., & Mills, K. L. (2014). Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 187–207. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115202.

Broidy, L., Cauffman, E., Espelage, D. L., Mazerolle, P., & Piquero, A. (2003). Sex differences in empathy and its relation to juvenile offending. Violence and Victims, 18 (5), 503–516. https://doi.org/10.1891/vivi.2003.18.5.503.

Bryant, B. K. (1982). An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Development, 53 (2), 413–425. https://doi.org/10.2307/1128984.

Caprara, G. V., Steca, P., Zelli, A., & Capanna, C. (2005). A new scale for measuring adults’ prosocialness. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 21 (2), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759.21.2.77.

Caravita, S. C., Di Blasio, P., & Salmivalli, C. (2009). Unique and interactive effects of empathy and social status on involvement in bullying. Social Development, 18 (1), 140–163. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00465.x.

Carlo, G., Eisenberg, N., & Knight, G. P. (1992). An objective measure of adolescents’ prosocial moral reasoning. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2 (4), 331–349. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1993-15896-001.

Carlo, G., Koller, S. H., Eisenberg, N., Da Silva, M. S., & Frohlich, C. B. (1996). A cross-national study on the relations among prosocial moral reason ing, gender role orientations, and prosocial behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 32 (2), 231–240. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.32.2.231.

Carlo, G., Mestre, M. V., Samper, P., Tur, A., & Armenta, B. E. (2010). Feelings or cognitions? Moral cognitions and emotions as longitudinal predictors of prosocialandaggressivebehaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 48 (8), 872–877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.02.010.

Carlo, G., Raffaelli, M., Laible, D. J., & Meyer, K. A. (1999). Why are girls less physically aggressive than boys? personality and parenting mediators of physical aggression. Sex Roles, 40 (9–10), 711–729. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018856601513.

Cichosz, P. (2014). Data mining algorithms: explained using R. John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118950951.

Davis, H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44 (1), 113–126. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113.

Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10 (85), 1–17. https://www.uv.es/friasnav/Davis_1980.pdf.

Decety, J., & Jackson, H. (2004). The functional architecture of human empathy. Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience Review, 3 (2), 71–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534582304267187.

Decety, J., & Lamm, C. (2006). Human empathy through the lens of social neuroscience. The Scientific World Journal, 6, Article 280363. https://doi.org/10.1100/tsw.2006.221.

Decety, J., & Moriguchi, Y. (2007). The empathic brain and its dysfunction in psychiatric populations: Implications for intervention across different clinical conditions. BioPsychoSocial Medicine, 1, Article 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/1751-0759-1-22.

Decety, J., & Svetlova, M. (2012). Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 2 (1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2011.05.003.

Dodge, K. A., Lochman, J. E., Harnish, J. D., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1997). Reactive and proactive aggression in school children and psychiatrically impaired chronically assaultive youth. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106 (1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.106.1.37.

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R., Guthries, I., & Reiser, M. (2000). Dispositional Emotionality and Regulation: their Role in Predicting Quality of Social Functioning. Journal Personality and Social Psychology, 78 (1), 136–157. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.1.136.

Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. L. (2006). Handbook of child psychology. John Wiley & Sons.

Eisenberg, N., & Lennon, R. (1983). Sex differences in empathy and related capacities. Psychological Bulletin, 94 (1), 100–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.94.1.100.

Eisenberg, N., Zhou, Q., & Koller, S. (2001). Brazilian adolescents’ prosocial moral judgment and behavior: Relations to sympathy, perspective taking, genderrole orientation, and demographic characteristics. Child Development, 72 (2), 518–534. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00294.

Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2001). Bullying and victimization during early adolescence: Peer influences and psychosocial correlates. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2 (2–3), 123–142. https://doi.org/10.1300/J135v02n02_08.

Frith, C. D., & Frith, U. (2006). The neural basis of mentalizing. Neuron, 50 (4), 531–534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2006.05.001.

Gallese, V. (2001). The ’shared manifol’ hypothesis. from mirror neurons to empathy. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 8 (5–7), 33–50. Garaigordobil, M., & De Galdeano, P. G. (2006). Empatía en niños de 10 a 12 años. Psicothema, 18 (2), 180–186. http://www.psicothema.com/pdf/3195.pdf.

Gerdes, K., & Segal, E. (2009). A social work model of empathy. Advances in Social Work, 10 (2), 114–127. https://doi.org/10.18060/235.

Gini, G., Albiero, P., Benelli, B., & Altoe, G. (2007). Does empathy predict adolescents’ bullying and defending behavior? Aggressive Behavior, 33 (5), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20204.

Gómez-Tabares, A. S. G., & Narváez Marín, M. N. (2020). Tendencias prosociales y su relación con la empatía y la autoeficacia emocional en adolescents en vulnerabilidad psicosocial. Revista Colombiana de Psicología, 29 (2), 125–48. https://doi.org/10.15446/rcp.v29n2.78430.

Gorostiaga, A., Balluerka, N., & Soroa, G. (2014). Evaluación de la empatía en el ámbito educativo y su relación con la inteligencia emocional. Revista de Educación, 364, 12–38. https://doi.org/10.4438/1988-592X-RE-2014-364-253.

Greenberg, D. M., Warrier, V., Allison, C., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Testing the empathizingsystemizing theory of sex differences and the extreme male brain theory of autism in half a million people. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, 115 (48), 12152–12157. https://doi.org/10. 1073/pnas.1811032115.

Groen, Y., Wijers, A., Tucha, O., & Althaus, M. (2012). Are there sex differences in ERPs related to processing empathy-evoke pictures? Neuropsychologia, 51 (1), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.11.012.

Gutiérrez San Martín, M., Escartí, A., & Pascual, C. (2011). Relaciones entre empatía, conducta prosocial, agresividad, autoeficacia y responsabilidad personal y social de los escolares. Psicothema, 23 (1), 13–19. http://www.psicothema. com/pdf/3843.pdf.

Guzmán Bohórquez, L. D., Giraldo Camacho, M. A., & Duarte Ramos, Y. (2019). Diferencias en los niveles de empatía entre hombres y mujeres: Una revisión bibliográfica [Undergraduate research, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia]. https://repository.ucc.edu.co/bitstream/20.500.12494/15756/1/2019_estudiantes_genero_conducta.pdf.

Hoffmann, D. D. (2000). Visual intelligence: How we create what we see. w.w. Norton & Company. Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6 (1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118.

Iacoboni, M. (2009). Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 653–670. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163604.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the basic empathy scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29 (4), 589–611. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.08.010.

Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (1993). Lisrel 8: Structural equation modeling with the simplis command language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Katz, M. H. (2006). Multivariable analysis (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511811692.

Kemp, A., Silbertstein, R., Armstrong, S., & Nathan, P. (2004). Gender differences in the cortical electrophysiological processing of visual emotional stimuli. NeuroImage, 2 (2), 632–646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.09.055.

Kline, P. (1999). The handbook of psychological testing. Routledge.

Lemos, V. (2009). Evaluación de la eficacia de un programa para promover la conducta prosocial enniños en riesgo social por pobreza. In M. C. Richaud de Minzi & J. E. Moreno (Eds.), Recientes Desarrollos Iberoamericanos en Investigación en Ciencias del Comportamiento (Vol 1) (pp. 137-152). Ediciones CIIPME-CONICET.

Lemos, V. (2012). Estilos parentales, conducta prosocial y estabilidad emocional en niños en vulnerabilidad social por pobreza. In J. Palomar Lever (Comp.), Estudios de Resiliencia en América Latina (pp. 11-22). Pearson Universidad Iberoamericana-Universidad de Sonora.

Lemos, V., Hendrie, K., & Oros, L. (2015). Símpatía y su incidencia en la conducta prosocial en niños de 6 y 7 años. Revista de Psicología, 11 (21), 47–59. https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/handle/11336/13675.

Lévesque, J., Eugène, F., Joanette, Y., Paquette, V., Mensour, B., & Beaudoin, G. (2003). Neural circuitry underlying voluntary suppression of sadness. Biological Psychiatry, 53 (6), 502–510. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01817-6.

Lietz, A., Gerdes, K., Sun, F., Geiger, M., Wagaman, M., & Segal, E. A. (2011). The Empathy Assessment Index (EAI): A confirmatory factor analysis of a multidimensional model of empathy. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 2 (2), 104–124. https://doi.org/10.5243/jsswr.2011.6.

Lipps, T. (1903). Empathy, inward imitation, and sense feelings. In E. F. Carritt (Ed.), Philosophies of beauty: From Socrates to Robert Bridges being the sources of aesthetic theory (pp. 252-256) Clarendon Press.

López, M., Arán, V., & Richaud de Minzi, M. (2014). Empatía: Desde la percepción automática hasta los procesos controlados. Avances de Psicología Latinoamericana, 32 (1), 37–51. https://doi.org/10.12804/apl32.1.2014.03.

Mado, A., Adorni, R., Zani, A., & Trestianu, L. (2009). Sex differences in the brain response to affective scenes with or without humans. Neuropsychologia, 47, 2374–2388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.10.030.

Martínez Arias, R. (2005). Psicometría: Teoría de los test psicológicos y educativos. Síntesis. Martínez-Otero, V. (2011). La empatía en la educación: Estudio de una muestra de alumnos universitarios. Revista Electrónica de Psicología Iztacala, 14 (4), 174–190. http://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/repi/article/view/28899.

Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24 (1), 167–202. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.167.

Montero, I., & León, O. G. (2007). A guide for naming research studies in psychology. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 7 (3), 847–862.

Muñiz, J. (1993). Teoría clásica de los tests. Pirámide. Muñiz, J. (1998). La medición de lo psicológico. Psicothema, 10 (1), 1–21.

Muñiz, J., Fidalgo, A. M., García-Cueto, E., Martínez, R., & Moreno, R. (2005). Item analysis. La Muralla.

Muthén, B., & Kaplan, D. (1985). A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of nonnormal likert variables. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38, 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1985.tb00832.x.

Nickerson, A. B., Mele, D., & Princiotta, D. (2008). Attachment and empathy as predictors of roles as defenders or outsiders in bullying interactions. Journal of School Psychology, 46 (6), 687–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2008.06.002.

Ochsner, K. N., Bunge, S., Gross, J. J., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2002). Rethinking feelings: An fmri study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14 (8), 1215–1229. https://doi.org/10.1162/089892902760807212.

Otzen, T., & Manterola, C. (2017). Técnicas de muestreo sobreunapoblaciónaestudio. International Journal of Morphology, 35 (1), 227–232. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0717-95022017000100037.

Pastor, Á. R. (2004). Diferencias en empatía en función de las variables género y edad. Apuntes de Psicología, 22 (3), 323–339.

Pouw, L. B., Rieffe, C., Oosterveld, P., Huskens, B., & Stockmann, L. (2013). Reactive/proactive aggression and affective/cognitive empathy in children with ASD. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34 (4), 1256–1266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2012.12.022.


Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? The Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 4, 515–526.

Preston, S. D., & De Waal, F. B. (2002). Empathy: Its ultimate and proximate bases. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25 (1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X02000018.

Proverbio, A. M. (2017). Sex differences in social cognition: The case of face processing. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 95, 222–234. https://doi.org/10.1002/jnr.23817.

Rameson, L. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2009). Empathy: A social cognitive neuroscience approach. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3 (1), 94–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00154.x.

Richaud, M. C., Lemos, V. N., Mesurado, B., & Oros, L. (2017). Construct validity and reliability of a new spanish empathy questionnaire for children and early adolescents. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 979. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00979.

Richaud, M. C., & Mesurado, B. (2016). Las emociones positivas y la empatía como promotores de las conductas prosociales e inhibidores de las conductas agresivas. Acción Psicológica, 13 (2), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.13.2.17808.

Richaud, M. C., Mesurado, B., & Minzi, M. P. (2019). Attachment style classification questionnaire for latency age: Psychometrics properties of argentine sample. International Journal of Psychological Research, 12 (2), 59–70. https://doi.org/10.21500/20112084.4058.

Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2008). Evaluación de la empatía en población infantil argentina. Revista de Investigación en Psicología, 11 (1), 101–115. https://doi.org/10.15381/rinvp.v11i1.3880.

Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2013). Children’s perception of parental empathy as a precursor of children’s empathy in middle and late childhood. The Journal of Psychology, 147 (6), 563–576. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2012.721811.

Richaud de Minzi, M. C. (2015). Informe final proyecto de investigación subsidiado por CONICET. Influencia de la empatía y de los procesos cognitivosemocionales y sociales relacionados, sobre las conductas prosociales y agresivas. PIP N◦ 112201001 00230.

Rose, A., & Rudolph, K. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132 (1), 98–131. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98.

Samper, P. (2014). Diferentes tendencias prosociales: El papel de las emociones. Revista Mexicana de Investigación Psicológica, 6 (2), 177–185. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/71038302.pdf.

Servera, M., & Cardo, E. (2006). Children Sustained Attention Task (CSAT): Normative, reliability, and validity data. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 6 (3), 697–707. https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/337/33760311.pdf.

Steinberg, L., & Morris, A. S. (2001). Adolescent development. Annual review of psychology, 52, 83–110. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.83.

Tanaka, J. S. (1993). Multifaceted conceptions of fit in structural equation models. Testing structural equation models, 1, 10–39.

Tobari, M. (2003). The development of empathy in adolescence: A multidimensional view. Japanese Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14 (2), 136–148.

Toussaint, L., & Webb, J. R. (2005). Gender differences in the relationship between empathy and forgiveness. The Journal of social psychology, 145 (6), 673–685. https://doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.145.6.673-686.

Van Noorden, T. H., Haselager, G. J., Cillessen, A. H., & Bukowski, W. M. (2015). Empathy and involvement in bullying in children and adolescents: A systematic review. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44 (3), 637–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0135-6.

Ventura-León, J. L., & Caycho-Rodríguez, T. (2017). El coeficiente omega: Un método alternativo para la estimación de la confiabilidad. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Niñez y Juventud, 15 (1), 625–627.

Vossen, H. G., Piotrowski, J. T., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2015). Development of the adolescent measure of empathy and sympathy (AMES). Personality and Individual Differences, 74, 66–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.040.

Wimmer, H., Hogrefe, G. J., & Perner, J. (1988). Children’s understanding of informational access as source of knowledge. Child Development, 59 (2), 386–396. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130318.

Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representationandconstrainingfunctionofwrong beliefs in young children’s understanding of deception. Cognition, 13 (1), 103–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5.

Wölfer, R., Cortina, K., & Baumert, J. (2012). Embeddedness and empathy: How the social network shapes adolescents’ social understanding. Journal of Adolescence, 35 (5), 1295–1305. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.04.015.

Zarrett, N., & Eccles, J. (2006). The passage to adulthood: Challenges of late adolescence. New Directions for Youth Development, 111, 13–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.179.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Cited by