Salud Mental

Development of the Mexican Version of the Empathy Quotient

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

Ricardo Arturo Saracco-Álvarez
Ana Fresán
Víctor Rodríguez Pérez
Rebeca Robles-García
Raúl Iván Escamilla Orozco
Leonila Rosa Díaz Martínez
Carlos-Alfonso Tovilla-Zárate
José Luis Olivares Neumann

Abstract

Introduction. Empathy is defined as the ability or process to identify and understand other person’s situation, feelings, and motives. These responses are essential for relationships and social behavior. Baron-Cohen et al. created the Empathy Quotient (EQ), a scale explicitly designed to have a clinical application. The instrument evaluates three constructs of empathy and several studies around worldwide, but not in Mexico.

Objective. To examine the psychometric properties and the factor congruence of the EQ in a community sample from Mexico City.

Method. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient and a correspondence factorial analysis was performed to test the relation between response options and factors from the Exploratory Factor Analysis 200 adults without Axis I disorders through the MINI, filled out the Spanish version of the short version (28-items) of the EQ. An exploratory factor analysis was performed while reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, correspondence factorial analysis and the factor congruence coefficient were determined.

Results. Five items were eliminated from the original 28-item EQ. From the 23 remaining items, only 16 were grouped in the three original proposed dimensions (cognitive empathy: 8 items, emotional reactivity: 4 items and social skills: 3 items), while one item showed communality with a different domain from the one originally proposed. Reliability was adequate (.82) as well as the congruence coefficients (.76 to .99).

Discussion and conclusion. The EQ Mexican 16-item version is a good tool to assess empathy in a Mexican population.
Keywords:
Validation, empathy, scale, congruence coefficient, mexican population

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th Edition, Text Revision), DSM-IV-TR. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association. doi: 10.1176/appi.books.9780890423349

Baron-Cohen, S. (2012). The science of evil: On empathy and the origins of cruelty. Basic books.

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(2), 163-175. doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000022607.19833.00

Baron-Cohen, S., Richler, J., Bisarya, D., Gurunathan, N., & Wheelwright, S. (2003). The systemizing quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 361-374. doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1206

Berthoz, S., Wessa, M., Kedia, G., Wicker, B., & Grèzes, J. (2008). Cross-cultural validation of the empathy quotient in a French-speaking sample. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(7), 469-477. doi:10.1177/070674370805300712

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

Escrivá, V. M., Navarro, M. D. F., & García, P. S. (2004). La medida de la empatía: análisis del Interpersonal Reactivity Index. Psicothema, 16(2), 255-260. Retrieved from https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/727/72716213.pdf

Farrow, T. F. (2007). Neuroimaging of empathy. In: Farrow, T., Woodruff, P. Empathy in Mental Illness (1st Edition), (pp. 201-216). London: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://gamut.neiu.edu/~lruecker/Farrow.pdf

Jankowiak-Siuda, K., Kantor-Martynuska, J., Siwy-Hudowska, A., Śmieja, M., Dobrołowicz-Konkol, M., Zaraś-Wieczorek, I., & Siedler, A. (2017). Psychometric properties of a Polish adaptation of short form of the Empathy Quotient (EQ-Short). Psychiatria Polska, 51(4), 197-734. doi: 10.12740/pp/64270

Kim, J., & Lee, S. J. (2010). Reliability and Validity of the Korean Version of the Empathy Quotient Scale. Psychiatry Investigation, 7(1), 24-30. doi: 10.4306/pi.2010.7.1.24

Lamm, C., Batson, C. D., & Decety, J. (2007). The neural substrate of human empathy: effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(1), 42-58. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.1.42

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), 911-920. doi: 10.1017/s0033291703001624

Leiberg, S., & Anders, S. (2006). The multiple facets of empathy: A survey of theory and evidence. Progress in Brain Research, 156, 419-440. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6123(06)56023-6

Marsh, A. A. (2018). The neuroscience of empathy. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 19, 110-115. doi: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.12.016

Moore, R. C., Dev, S. I., Jeste, D. V., Dziobek, I., & Eyler, L. T. (2015). Distinct neural correlates of emotional and cognitive empathy in older adults. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 232(1), 42-50. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2014.10.016

Muncer, S. J., & Ling, J. (2006). Psychometric analysis of the empathy quotient (EQ) scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(6), 1111-1119. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.020

Nunnally, J. C. (1994). Psychometric theory 3E. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Pan, Y., & de la Puente, M. (2005). Census Bureau guideline for the translation of data collection instruments and supporting materials: Documentation on how the guideline was developed. Survey Methodology. 6. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2005/adrm/rsm2005-06.pdf

Perry, A., & Shamay-Tsoory, S. (2013) Understanding emotional and cognitive empathy: A neuropsychological perspective. In Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Lombardo, M. (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience, (pp. 179-194). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 0 19 969297 2

Pijnenborg, G. H. M., Spikman, J. M., Jeronimus, B. F., & Aleman, A. (2013). Insight in schizophrenia: Associations with empathy. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 263(4), 299-307. doi: 10.1007/s00406-012-0373-0

Preti, A., Vellante, M., Baron-Cohen, S., Zucca, G., Petretto, D. R., & Masala, C. (2011). The Empathy Quotient: A cross-cultural comparison of the Italian version. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 16(1), 50-70. doi: 10.1080/13546801003790982

Reyes-Lagunes, I., & García y Barragán, L. F. (2008). Procedimiento de validación psicométrica culturalmente relevante: un ejemplo. In La Psicología Social en México, 12, (pp. 625-636).

Sheehan, D. V., Lecrubier, Y., Sheehan, K. H., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., ... Dunbar, G. C. (1998). The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI): The development and validation of a structured diagnostic psychiatric interview for DSM-IV and ICD-10. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59(Suppl 20), 22-33.

Wakabayashi, A., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Goldenfeld, N., Delaney, J., Fine, D., ... Weil, L. (2006). Development of short forms of the Empathy Quotient (EQ-Short) and the Systemizing Quotient (SQ-Short). Personality and Individual Differences, 41(5), 929-940. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2006.03.017

Wrigley, C., & Neuhaus, J. O. (1955). The matching of two sets of factors (Contract Report No. A-32, Task A). Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois.

Zaki, J., & Ochsner, K. (2013) Neural sources of empathy: An evolving story. In Baron-Cohen, S., Tager-Flusberg, H., & Lombardo, M. (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience. (pp. 215-232). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 0 19 969297 2

Zhang, Y., Xiang, J., Wen, J., Bian, W., Sun, L., & Bai, Z. (2018). Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the empathy quotient among Chinese minority college students. Annals of General Psychiatry, 17(1), 38. doi: 10.1186/s12991-018-0209-z