Development of the Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy (AMES)

Belief in a just world and fair behavior among clinical nurses: a moderated mediation model of empathy and observer justice sensitivity

BACKGROUND

Exploration of the relationship between nursing staffs' justice in belief world and fair behavior is important to promote equity and access to health services in health organizations, as well as to enhance the quality of care. In order to further dissect the influencing factors of fair behavior among clinical nurses, the current study aims to investigate how belief in a just world influences the fair behavior among nurses. Based on the belief in a just world theory, the empathy-altruism theory and the protective-protective model, the current study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the effect of belief in a just world on fair behavior by investigating the mediating role of empathy and the moderating role of observer justice sensitivity.

METHOD

This was a cross-sectional study. 571 registered clinical nurses were included from five hospitals in Fuzhou through a convenience sampling method. Measurements included Chinese translations of belief in a just world scale, empathy scale, observer justice sensitivity scale, fair behavior scale. SPSS 22.0 was used to describe descriptive statistics and the variables' Pearson correlation coefficient. SPSS PROCESS macro Model 4 and model 14 were used to examine the mediation and the moderation between the relationship of belief in a just world and fairness behavior.

RESULT

The results shower that fairness behavior was positively correlated with one's belief in a just world (r = 0.26, p < 0.01); (2)empathy mediated the relationship between belief in a just world and fair behavior. The mediation model explains 20.83%; (3) Observer justice sensitivity moderated the relationship between empathy and fair behavior.

CONCLUSIONS

Belief in a just world, empathy, and observer justice sensitivity were motivations for nurses' fair behavior. Nursing administrators should focus on cultivating nurses' belief in a just world, their empathy abilities, and positive qualities of justice sensitivity to enhance fair behavior in a healthcare setting.

Perceptions of patients and their relatives about schadenfreude towards doctors

Background

Violence in healthcare is a global issue that healthcare professionals experience. The concerning increase in violent incidents in Turkiye particularly makes it a significant problem to explore by examining the underlying psychological factors. In this sense, this study focuses on the concept of Schadenfreude, the malicious joy of someone else's misfortune, towards doctors, which is an under-researched topic in healthcare violence. Particularly, there is a lack of research on patients' and relatives' perceptions of doctors.

Objective

This study aims to determine the level of schadenfreude in Turkish society towards the violence experienced by doctors and to develop a model revealing the underlying causes.

Methods

Using a convenience sampling method, we recruited 402 participants, who are not first-degree relatives of healthcare professionals, for this quantitative study. For data collection, we developed a survey instrument to measure the level of schadenfreude and six different psychological factors including empathy, sympathy, anger, aggression, and deservingness. For data analysis, we used structural equation modeling.

Results

The results showed that the lower the levels of empathy and sympathy towards doctors were, the higher the levels of both schadenfreude and aggression were. Envy had no significant effect on either schadenfreude or aggression, while deservingness directly affected aggression. The perceptions of participants regarding doctors that they deserve violence increased their aggression levels. Schadenfreude had a positive and significant effect on anger and aggression.

Implications

The examination of underlying factors of violence towards doctors points to a lack of mutual understanding between patients and doctors. The results of this study indicate a need for increasing empathy towards health professionals by creating societal awareness of their experiences. Local authorities and healthcare organizations can create environments that bring together the public and health professionals to share their experiences with each other or conduct campaigns to draw public attention to the issue. Moreover, training sessions on effective communication can be offered for health professionals to help improve patient-doctor relationships and healthcare outcomes.

Susceptibility to positive versus negative emotional contagion: First evidence on their distinction using a balanced self-report measure

Susceptibility to emotional contagion is defined as the disposition of how susceptible someone is to catch others' emotions and it has long been studied in research on mental health, well-being, and social interaction. Given that existing self-report measures of susceptibility to emotional contagion have focused almost exclusively on negative emotions, we developed a self-report measure to assess the susceptibility to emotional contagion of both positive and negative emotions (2 scales). In two studies, we examined their factor structure, validity, and reliability using exploratory factor analysis (Study 1, N = 257), confirmatory factor analysis (Study 2, N = 247) and correlations. Our results confirmed the two-factor structure and demonstrated good internal consistencies. Regarding external validity, our scales showed diverging correlational patterns: While susceptibility to negative emotional contagion was linked to mental health problems and negative emotions, susceptibility to positive emotional contagion was linked to interpersonal functioning and prosocial tendencies. In conclusion, our scales appear to be internally/externally valid and a promising tool for future research.

Associations Among Adolescents' Mindfulness, Sympathy, Cognitive Empathy, and Sibling Relationships

In the current study, we examined the direct and indirect paths from mindfulness to adolescents' sibling relationships through their cognitive empathy and sympathy. The sample consisted of 220 adolescents (50.9 % female) between age of 13 and 17 years (M = 15.86, SD = 0.91). Participants reported their mindfulness (acceptance and awareness), cognitive empathy and sympathy, and sibling relationships. The parallel mediation model revealed that mindful awareness and acceptance predicted kindness, involvement, and empathy within sibling relationships through sympathy. In addition, there was a significant indirect effect of mindful awareness to empathy in sibling relationships through cognitive empathy. Findings provided information regarding the importance of indirect contributions of mindfulness to sibling relationships through cognitive empathy and sympathy.

Community Violence Exposure and Bullying in Mexican Adolescents. The Mediating Role of Moral Emotions

Community characteristics can explain differences in bullying rates between schools. Underpinned by the social-ecological model, this study examined the relationships among community violence exposure (CVE), moral emotions (guilt and sympathy), and bullying in adolescents. We also explored the moderating role of gender in these relationships. The sample included 915 adolescents (48.6% female and 51.4% male) aged 11-16 (M age = 13.76, SD = 0.82). Students responded to the self-report measures. We used a latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to examine the relationships between variables. The SEM indicated that CVE was negatively associated with moral emotions (guilt and sympathy) and positively associated with bullying. In addition, CVE had a negative indirect association with bullying through their negative relationship with moral emotions. The structural model is equivalent for both genders, suggesting gender does not moderate these relationships. These findings indicate that CVE are associated with differences in school bullying rates.

Questionnaire Measures of Empathy in Children: A Scoping Review

Children's unique developmental and contextual needs make it challenging to measure empathy validly and reliably. This scoping review is the first to collate currently available information about self-report, other-report, and performance-based questionnaire measures of empathy for children aged up to 11 years. Following the guidelines for Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR; Tricco et al., 2018), a literature search using PsycINFO, Scopus, and Google Scholar identified 24 relevant measures of empathy in children, with publication years spanning 1958 to 2019. Questionnaires could broadly be classified into four groups, according to the extent to which they were developed with children's developmental needs and contexts in mind, and were based on contemporary theory and research findings. There was a distinction between performance-based measures, which elicited children's empathy-related responses to novel content and therefore assessed situational state empathy, and self- and other-report measures, which rated children's general empathic tendencies and thus assessed dispositional trait empathy. Results highlighted the importance of researchers having clarity on their definition of empathy and choosing measures consistent with this, and the merit of utilizing a multimodal assessment approach.

Individual-Level Risk and Resilience Factors Associated with Mental Health in Siblings of Individuals with Neurodevelopmental Conditions: A Network Analysis

Siblings of individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) are exposed to unique family environments and experience a range of psychosocial risk and resilience factors. Networks of self-reported risk, resilience, and neuropsychiatric variables were estimated for siblings of individuals with (n = 235) and without (n = 480) NDCs (N = 715, mean age 22.40 years, 76% female, 74% White Caucasian). The NDC group reported more depressive (g = 0.39) and anxious (g = 0.43) symptoms than controls, and 71.5% of the NDC group reported at least one neuropsychiatric diagnosis compared to 36.9% of controls. Self-reported sleep and post-traumatic stress disorders were high amongst NDC siblings. Everyday executive functioning difficulties (cognitive inflexibility, hyperactivity/impulsivity) and emotion dysregulation were the most influential transdiagnostic risk factors for poorer functioning within the NDC group network.

Predicting youth aggression with empathy and callous unemotional traits: A Meta-analytic review

Historically, empathy has been thought to motivate prosocial behaviour and inhibit aggressive behaviour. Contrary to current assumptions and theoretical support, a meta-analysis revealed a small effect of empathy on aggression among adults (Vachon, Lynam, & Johnson, 2014). The current study sought to determine whether broadening the focus from empathy to include other socially relevant affective characteristics (i.e., callous-unemotional traits) was advantageous in predicting aggressive behaviour. As little is known about the strength of this association among youth, the current study meta-analytically examined 192 unique effect sizes drawn from published and unpublished studies reporting on samples of children and adolescents. Analyses were conducted across general, cognitive, and emotional empathy, as well as callous-unemotional traits, and general, direct, indirect, proactive, and reactive aggression. Significant variability was noted across effect sizes. Consistent with a prior meta-analysis involving adults (Vachon et al., 2014), small to moderate associations were identified between aggression and traditional measures of empathy (i.e., general, emotional, cognitive); these effects ranged from r = -0.06 to -0.26. Among broader measures of emotional style (i.e., callous-unemotional traits), moderate to large effects were found; ranging from r = 0.30 to 0.37. Results suggested that broader affective measures may be more strongly associated with aggression than empathy alone. The results raise questions about the nature of empathy assessment and indicate the utility of targeting multiple emotion-related factors during treatment to effectively reduce aggressive behaviour. In particular, the results underscore of the importance of considering the limited prosocial emotions specifier (perhaps trans-diagnostically given the varied nature of the sample) when considering implications for prognosis and treatment targets.

Children’s Self-Esteem and Attitudes toward Disability, Perceived Competence and Morality: The Indirect Effect of Cognitive Empathy

The present study explored children’s attitudes toward disability and the links with demographic factors (i.e., gender) and personal factors (i.e., empathy, sympathy, self-esteem). Our sample comprised 405 children aged 9 to 11 (M = 9.88, SD = 0.65, 47.4% males). First, we explored the links between self-esteem, empathy (cognitive and affective), and attitudes toward disability. Then, by using three scenarios involving a child in a wheelchair (Group 1), a child with an intellectual disability (Group 2), and a child with visual impairment (Group 3), we investigated the perceived competence and morality of these characters. The results suggested that cognitive empathy mediated the link between self-esteem and attitudes toward disability. Moreover, our data suggested that the character in a wheelchair (Group 1) received the highest scores regarding morality and competence, whereas the character with an intellectual disability (Group 2) received the lowest scores. We discuss the present findings regarding their practical implications for inclusive education strategies.

Individual differences in brain structure and self-reported empathy in children

Empathy refers to the understanding and sharing of others’ emotions and comprises cognitive and affective components. Empathy is important for social functioning, and alterations in empathy have been demonstrated in many developmental or psychiatric disorders. While several studies have examined associations between empathy and brain structure in adults, few have investigated this relationship in children. Investigating associations between empathy and brain structure during childhood will help us to develop a deeper understanding of the neural correlates of empathy across the lifespan. A total of 125 children (66 females, mean age 10 years) underwent magnetic resonance imaging brain scans. Grey matter volume and cortical thickness from structural images were examined using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) within Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) software. Children completed questionnaire measures of empathy (cognitive empathy, affective empathy: affective sharing, empathic concern, and empathic distress). In hypothesised region of interest analyses, individual differences in affective and cognitive empathy were related to grey matter volume in the insula and the precuneus. Although these relationships were of similar strength to those found in previous research, they did not survive correction for the total number of models computed. While no significant findings were detected between grey matter volume and empathy in exploratory whole-brain analysis, associations were found between cortical thickness and empathic concern in the right precentral gyrus. This study provides preliminary evidence that individual differences in self-reported empathy in children may be related to aspects of brain structure. Findings highlight the need for more research investigating the neurobiological correlates of empathy in children.

The Effects of the Creator’s Situation on Creativity Evaluation: The Rater’s Cognitive Empathy and Affective Empathy Matter in Rating Creative Works

Successful intelligence theory suggests that creativity is necessary for personal achievement outside of intelligence. Unlike intelligence, creativity can develop in a supportive environment. People should consider the situation of disadvantaged groups, which are characterized by low personal achievement and a bad growth environment in creativity evaluation from a caring perspective. This study focuses on the effect of the creator’s situation on creative evaluation and the role of the rater’s empathy (i.e., cognitive empathy and affective empathy) and sympathy in creative evaluation. Four pairs of creator’s situations (by age, physical state, family situation, and economic state) were designed to represent people with disadvantages or advantages. A between-subject design was used with 590 undergraduate students randomly assigned to eight sub-conditions. The participants were asked to assess three products in eight situations. The rater’s empathy and sympathy in creativity evaluation were explored in the overall disadvantage (N = 300) and advantage (N = 290) conditions. The results showed that the participants only provided significantly higher ratings to the creative product made by a child. Cognitive empathy only predicted a creative rating under disadvantaged conditions, and affective empathy negatively moderated this effect. Affective empathy only predicted a creative rating under advantage conditions, and cognitive empathy positively moderated this effect. Affective empathy only predicted a creative rating under advantage conditions, and cognitive empathy positively moderated this effect. The possible mechanisms of the effect and implications for the establishment of a supportive environment for creativity and creativity teaching practice were discussed.

Examining the Effect of Self-Determined Appeal Organ Donation Messages and Respective Underlying Mechanism

This study examined how intrinsic motivation and its respective underlying mechanism influence people's attitude and intentions of organ donation. The findings revealed the importance of meeting people's customized psychological needs. For the general population, especially non-organ donors, autonomous appeal message will be more effective in promoting their intention of becoming an organ donor. For registered organ donors, competence-based organ donation messages are more effective in increasing their promotion and seeking behavior of organ donation. This study also discovered underlying mechanisms of intrinsic motivation, such as self-integrity, pride, and sympathy. Pairing underlying mechanism with competence-based messages can maximize the message impact.

How perceived school culture relates to work engagement among primary and secondary school teachers? Roles of affective empathy and job tenure

Evidence suggests that perceived school culture is the most powerful predictor of teachers' work performance. However, studies to date have paid little attention to the potential mechanisms behind this association. On the basis of the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, the present study explored the mediating role of affective empathy and the moderating role of job tenure in the association between perceived school culture and teachers' work engagement. 647 primary and secondary school teachers completed questionnaires measuring perceived school culture, affective empathy, and work engagement. After gender and educational level were included as covariates, the results showed that perceived school culture positively correlated with teachers' work engagement, and more importantly, this association was partially mediated by affective empathy. In addition, job tenure significantly moderated the direct association between perceived school culture and work engagement. Specifically, there was a stronger association between perceived school culture and work engagement for teachers with shorter job tenure than those with longer job tenure. The findings suggested the direct effect of perceived school culture on work engagement, and the indirect effect of perceived school culture on work engagement through the mediating role of affective empathy. These findings enrich our understanding of how perceived school culture associates with work engagement, and highlight the moderating role of job tenure in the direct association between perceived school culture and work engagement.

The relationship between empathy and school adjustment of left-behind children: The mediating role of coping styles

To investigate the effects of left-behind children's empathy and coping styles on school adjustment, 605 left-behind children in the third grade from three rural elementary schools in Suzhou, Anhui Province were selected to complete the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reaction Index Scale, the Coping Style Scale, and the School Adjustment Behavior Scale for Primary and Secondary School Students. The results showed that (1) emotional empathy positively predicted children's social competence, and negatively predicted children's antisocial behavior; cognitive empathy positively predicted children's social competence; (2) the role of positive coping styles mediated the relationship between cognitive empathy and social competence, and that between cognitive empathy and antisocial behavior; negative coping styles mediated the relationship between cognitive empathy and antisocial behavior; both positive and negative coping styles mediated the relationship between emotional empathy and social competence, and that between emotional empathy and antisocial behavior. The findings of the study are valuable for understanding the relationship between empathy and school adjustment, which also helps to enhance the school adjustment of left-behind children.

Disaster description vividness and intention to donate: The mediating role of sympathy

From the perspective of affective events theory, we examined how the vividness of a disaster description affects the public's willingness to donate money to victims of the disaster. We conducted three experimental studies (Studies 1–3) and a survey study (Study 4), and the findings show that the vividness of a disaster description was positively related to individuals' willingness to donate (Study 1), and that this result was maintained when participants' affect and demographic variables were taken into consideration (Study 2). Further, sympathy mediated the effect of vivid descriptions of a disaster on the public's intention to donate money (Studies 3 and 4). We have provided a new understanding of the relationship between the vividness of a disaster description and the public's intention to donate money.

Empathy and teachers’ fairness behavior: The mediating role of moral obligation and moderating role of social value orientation

This study examined the mediating effect of moral obligation and moderating effect of social value orientation on the relationship between empathy and fairness behavior in Chinese teachers. Seven hundred and twenty-six Chinese teachers completed self-reported questionnaires regarding empathy, moral obligation, social value orientation, and fairness behavior. The results revealed that moral obligation mediated the link between empathy and teachers’ fairness behavior. Teachers’ social value orientation moderated the associations between empathy and moral obligation and moral obligation and fairness behavior. The associations between empathy and moral obligation and moral obligation and fairness behavior were more robust for those with high SVO scores (i.e., prosocial). This study identified the critical factors associated with teachers’ fairness behavior, supplying empirical support for existing theories and providing practical implications for interventions designed to improve Chinese teachers’ classroom environment.

Profiles of Teacher Professional Identity Among Student Teachers and Its Association With Mental Health

In recent years, studies exploring the link between teacher professional identity and mental health are increasing. However, such research using latent profile analysis is still scarce. The aim of this study was to examine the heterogeneity of a sample of 923 student teachers' professional identity and its association with mental health (i.e., psychological wellbeing and anxiety). By using latent profile analysis, four different profiles were identified: (1) low professional identity (LPI, 5.1%), (2) moderate professional identity (MPI, 42.7%), (3) high occupational values (HOV, 12%), and (4) high professional identity (HPI, 40.2%). The results demonstrated that psychological wellbeing and anxiety were significantly different across the four profiles. In addition, the anxiety of HOV group was not significantly with LPI and MPI groups. This study indicated that student teachers in different groups may have different mental health status.

The Psychometric Assessment of Empathy: Development and Validation of the Perth Empathy Scale

Empathy, the ability to infer and share others' affective states, plays a vital role in social interactions. However, no existing scale comprehensively assesses empathy's cognitive and affective components across positive and negative emotional valence domains. This article explores the latent structure of the empathy construct and attempts to remedy past measurement limitations by developing and validating a new 20-item self-report measure, the Perth Empathy Scale (PES). In Study 1 (N = 316), factor analyses revealed a coherent empathy construct comprised of cognitive and valence-specific affective components. Study 2 (N = 331) replicated this factor structure, showed measurement invariance between males and females, and highlighted the importance of assessing negative and positive emotions in empathy. The PES showed convergent and discriminant validity from comparisons with alexithymia and other empathy measures. Overall, this article empirically establishes a conceptually clear structure of the multidimensional empathy construct, which the PES reliably and validly measures.

Empathy: Assessment Instruments and Psychometric Quality - A Systematic Literature Review With a Meta-Analysis of the Past Ten Years

Objective: To verify the psychometric qualities and adequacy of the instruments available in the literature from 2009 to 2019 to assess empathy in the general population. Methods: The following databases were searched: PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science, Scielo, and LILACS using the keywords "empathy" AND "valid∗" OR "reliability" OR "psychometr∗." A qualitative synthesis was performed with the findings, and meta-analytic measures were used for reliability and convergent validity. Results: Fifty studies were assessed, which comprised 23 assessment instruments. Of these, 13 proposed new instruments, 18 investigated the psychometric properties of instruments previously developed, and 19 reported cross-cultural adaptations. The Empathy Quotient, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy were the instruments most frequently addressed. They presented good meta-analytic indicators of internal consistency [reliability, generalization meta-analyses (Cronbach's alpha): 0.61 to 0.86], but weak evidence of validity [weak structural validity; low to moderate convergent validity (0.27 to 0.45)]. Few studies analyzed standardization, prediction, or responsiveness for the new and old instruments. The new instruments proposed few innovations, and their psychometric properties did not improve. In general, cross-cultural studies reported adequate adaptation processes and equivalent psychometric indicators, though there was a lack of studies addressing cultural invariance. Conclusion: Despite the diversity of instruments assessing empathy and the many associated psychometric studies, there remain limitations, especially in terms of validity. Thus far, we cannot yet nominate a gold-standard instrument.

Measures of empathy in children and adolescents: A systematic review of questionnaires

BACKGROUND

Empathy has long been considered a multidimensional construct, encompassing cognitive, affective and behavioral domains. Deficits in empathic competences in early childhood contribute to psychopathology, and have been variably implicated in several clinical conditions, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and conduct disorders.

AIM

To identify and describe empirically validated questionnaires assessing empathy in children and adolescents and to provide a summary of related theoretical perspectives on empathy definitional issues.

METHODS

A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Three bibliographic databases were searched. A total of 47 studies were selected for final analysis and 16 distinct measures were identified and described.

RESULTS

Questionable to excellent levels of internal consistency were observed, while few studies assessed test-retest reliability. Although construct definitions only partially overlapped, affective and cognitive domains of empathy were the commonest internal factors that were often separately evaluated. New facets of the construct (i.e., somatic empathy and sympathy) and specific clinical populations (i.e., ASD) could be specifically addressed through more recent instruments.

CONCLUSION

The combination of different assessment methods is recommended in order to foresee further improvements in this field and try to overcome the problem of limited convergence with more objective measures.

Autonomy-Supportive Faculty, Students' Self-System Processes, Positive Academic Emotions, and Agentic Engagement: Adding Emotions to Self-System Model of Motivational Development

The aim of this study was to investigate mediating roles of students' self-system processes and positive academic emotions in a relationship between supporting autonomy and agentic engagement. In This research structural equation modeling was used to analyze a conceptual model. The sample consisted of 452 undergraduate students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The research instruments included the autonomy-supportive environment inventory, the self-system processes questionnaire, three questionnaires of academic emotions, and the agentic engagement scale. The findings showed that supporting autonomy had an indirect effect on students' achievement emotions, via self-system processes. Self-system processes had direct and indirect effects on agentic engagement, via positive academic emotions. Supporting autonomy had an indirect effect on agentic engagement by mediating role of self-system processes and positive academic emotions. Accordingly, emotions are proximal determinants of agentic engagement. Supporting autonomy and self-system processes affect agentic engagement from the pathway of academic emotions. Therefore, in addition to environmental factors and self-appraisals, it is necessary to consider students' emotional experiences to promote agentic engagement in learning settings.

The other side of the screen: The impact of perspective-taking on adolescents' online communication

INTRODUCTION

In recent decades, adolescents' interactions with peers have increasingly transitioned online. While socially interactive technologies provide multiple avenues for positive communication between peers, adolescents may experience harmful online peer interactions, with such interactions negatively impacting their well-being. A paucity of work exists investigating how adolescents' characteristics are related to their communicative choices on social media and if such choices can be influenced by cues to consider a recipient. Addressing this gap, this work examines experimental manipulations of perspective-taking and individual differences in socio-cognitive skills as they relate to adolescents' communicative choices online.

METHOD

Within individual sessions, 12- to 15-year-old Canadian participants (N = 72, 36 girls) viewed pictures of other adolescents on a simulated social media app similar to Snapchat and chose between pre-written aggressive or prosocial comments to send to a recipient under three conditions: a perspective-taking cue, a time-delay, no delay. Participants also completed self-report questionnaires assessing emotion regulation and empathy.

RESULTS

Following perspective-taking cues, participants chose more prosocial comments to send compared to when participants were permitted to choose a comment immediately after viewing another adolescent's picture, while controlling for a brief time-delay. Adolescents' individual characteristics (i.e., Social Media Use, State Mood, Affective Empathy, Gender) were associated with their communicative choices online.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings from this work provide new insight into the ways adolescents navigate their complex and increasingly online peer interactions. Further, the results suggest that adolescents' social media communication is malleable with a brief perspective-taking cue to consider a recipient.

Associations between cognitive and affective empathy and internalizing symptoms in late childhood

BACKGROUND

Empathy is a multidimensional construct, which includes cognitive and affective components. Studies in adults have demonstrated that both cognitive and affective empathy are associated with anxious and depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to examine these associations in childhood.

METHODS

Participants were 127 9- and 10-year-old children, recruited from the community. Self-report measures of cognitive and affective empathy, and internalizing symptoms were administered, as well as a task-based measure of cognitive empathy.

RESULTS

Canonical correlation analysis demonstrated that components of affective empathy, specifically affective sharing and empathic distress, were associated with internalizing (particularly social anxiety) symptoms (R_c = 0.63, non-parametric p < .001). Cognitive empathy was not associated with internalizing symptoms.

LIMITATIONS

Most of our findings were based around self-report measures of empathy, which may not accurately reflect empathy ability.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggests that children who share each other's emotions strongly are more likely to experience anxiety, particularly of a social nature.

Decision-making process of partnership in establishing and managing of rural wastewater treatment plants: Using intentional and geographical-spatial location data

The construction of rural wastewater treatment plants (RWTPs) is an effective initiative to achieve sustainable water resources, especially in the rural areas situated upstream of the dams where water and waste substances produced by villages are discharged into the wastewater behind the dams. Neither is the initiative feasible to be launched without the partnership of local people. For this reason, we gained insights into the determinants of villagers' desire and intention to have a share in the construction and management of RWTPs and determined the best place to locate the RWTPs using Fuzzy Catastrophe Scheme (FCS). The study benefited from the survey of 180 rural people from two villages situated upstream of Alavian dam, Maragheh Township, northwestern Iran. Using the theory of goal-directed behavior (TGDB) and rational choice theory (RCT), we designed a questionnaire, inclusive of the constructs relevant to the hypothetical relationships. The Cronbach's alpha method and discriminant analysis were used to make sure that indicator variables were consistently loaded with pertinent latent variables. The results of PLS-SEM manifested a proper fitted model with the data. As would be hypothesized, attitude towards participation, PBC, positive emotions had a positive impact on desire, which directly influences the intention to participate in the construction and management of RWTPs. To locate RWTPs as geographically and spatially as possible, we made use of suitability index (SI), formulated by the FCS, the resulting evidence demonstrated that the spatial distribution of SI would be classified into five bands using Jenks' optimization method, northwestern areas located in Bands 1 and 2 were appropriate areas, whereas, western and northwestern areas (in Bands 4-5) were caught sight of being not appropriate areas. The implications delivered in conclusion would be useful for the same cases in other parts of the world and further to stimulate rural people to participate in the construction of RWTPs and locate the best area for setting up the plants.

Psychometric properties of empathy questionnaire for Spanish adolescents

The aim of this study was to adapt and test the empathy questionnaire in Spanish adolescents (N = 701, age = 13.47 years). The study involved two different strands: (1) the questionnaire was translated into Spanish, and its internal consistency, factorial structure and convergent validity were assessed; (2) the questionnaire was subject to confirmatory factor analysis.

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis show that the questionnaire’s factors present an aggregate variance of 58.588%, which suggests that the questionnaire is a valid tool to represent affective empathy, cognitive empathy and empathic concern. On the other hand, the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the sustainability of the model, which comprises three identified factors and twelve items. The empathy questionnaire is easy to understand and can be completed in a short time, so it is considered a useful tool to assess empathy in Spanish adolescents. The results are discussed in the context of theoretical accounts of empathy.

The Relationship Between Media Involvement and Death Anxiety of Self-Quarantined People in the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: The Mediating Roles of Empathy and Sympathy

The COVID-19 outbreak put health threat to people globally, and self-quarantine was suggested by the Chinese government to contain the outbreak. In self-quarantine, media was the most important way to get information about the outbreak. However, the relationship between media involvement and death anxiety, and the underlying mechanism are poorly understood. We conducted an online survey of 917 participants to assess the media involvement and other potential factors (empathy, sympathy and affect) which might affect death anxiety. Correlation analysis and mediation models were conducted to examine the relationship between media involvement and death anxiety, and the possible mediating roles of empathy, sympathy, and affect. It was found that media involvement was positively associated with death anxiety. Empathy, sympathy, and negative affect played mediating roles between them. However, empathy and sympathy act differently in the association, as empathy could lead to the increase of negative affect, while sympathy did not.

Investigation on the Rationality of the Extant Ways of Scoring the Interpersonal Reactivity Index Based on Confirmatory Factor Analysis

As the most frequently used tool for measuring empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is often scored by researchers arbitrarily and casually. Many commonly used IRI scoring approaches and their corresponding measurement models are unverified, which may make the conclusions of subsequent variable relation studies controversial and even misleading. We make the first effort to summarize these measurement models and to evaluate rationality of the common scoring methods of the IRI by confirmatory factor analysis, focusing on model fitting, factor loading, and model-based reliability simultaneously. The results show that most of these models do not fit well, indicating that the scoring approaches of the IRI corresponding to these models may be problematic. Relatively speaking, better scoring approaches of the IRI include summing empathic concern (EC) and perspective taking (PT) as the total score of the IRI and reporting the score of PT as cognitive empathy.

Tracking Affective Language Comprehension: Simulating and Evaluating Character Affect in Morally Loaded Narratives

Facial electromyography research shows that corrugator supercilii (“frowning muscle”) activity tracks the emotional valence of linguistic stimuli. Grounded or embodied accounts of language processing take such activity to reflect the simulation or “re-enactment” of emotion, as part of the retrieval of word meaning (e.g., of “furious”) and/or of building a situation model (e.g., for “Mark is furious”). However, the same muscle also expresses our primary emotional evaluation of things we encounter. Language-driven affective simulation can easily be at odds with the reader’s affective evaluation of what language describes (e.g., when we like Mark being furious). In a previous experiment (‘t Hart et al., 2018) we demonstrated that neither language-driven simulation nor affective evaluation alone seem sufficient to explain the corrugator patterns that emerge during online language comprehension in these complex cases. Those results showed support for a multiple-drivers account of corrugator activity, where both simulation and evaluation processes contribute to the activation patterns observed in the corrugator. The study at hand replicates and extends these findings. With more refined control over when precisely affective information became available in a narrative, we again find results that speak against an interpretation of corrugator activity in terms of simulation or evaluation alone, and as such support the multiple-drivers account. Additional evidence suggests that the simulation driver involved reflects simulation at the level of situation model construction, rather than at the level of retrieving concepts from long-term memory. In all, by giving insights into how language-driven simulation meshes with the reader’s evaluative responses during an unfolding narrative, this study contributes to the understanding of affective language comprehension.

Should Machines Express Sympathy and Empathy? Experiments with a Health Advice Chatbot

When we ask a chatbot for advice about a personal problem, should it simply provide informational support and refrain from offering emotional support? Or, should it show sympathy and empathize with our situation? Although expression of caring and understanding is valued in supportive human communications, do we want the same from a chatbot, or do we simply reject it due to its artificiality and uncanniness? To answer this question, we conducted two experiments with a chatbot providing online medical information advice about a sensitive personal issue. In Study 1, participants (N = 158) simply read a dialogue between a chatbot and a human user. In Study 2, participants (N = 88) interacted with a real chatbot. We tested the effect of three types of empathic expression-sympathy, cognitive empathy, and affective empathy-on individuals' perceptions of the service and the chatbot. Data reveal that expression of sympathy and empathy is favored over unemotional provision of advice, in support of the Computers are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm. This is particularly true for users who are initially skeptical about machines possessing social cognitive capabilities. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.

Exploring Latent Profiles of Empathy Among Chinese Preschool Teachers: A Person-Centered Approach

In view of the shortcomings of previous research on empathy (e.g., no dimensional differentiation, predominantly variable-centered approaches, and a lack of sample diversity), we adopted a person-centered approach to identify distinct profiles of empathy among Chinese preschool teachers, and we examined how these profiles relate to certain outcomes. We identified three profiles—moderate empathy, high cognitive empathy–moderate affective empathy, and high empathy—that varied in the level and shape of the profile indicators. Subsequent analyses showed that participants with higher levels of overall empathy scored higher in sympathy, while those with higher levels of affective empathy and lower levels of cognitive empathy scored higher in emotional exhaustion. Finally, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study.

Propiedades Psicométricas de la Adaptación al Español de la Participant Role Approach (PRA)

El estudio se propuso analizar las propiedades psicométricas del Participant Role Appoach (PRA) para medir roles de espectadores en el acoso escolar en niños mexicanos. Participaron Participaron 787 estudiantes, 415 (52.7 %) niños (M edad = 10.59, DE = .66 años) y 372 (47.3 %) niñas (M edad = 10.51, DE = .64 años). Los resultados del análisis factorial confirmatorio sugieren que el modelo de tres roles (pro-acoso, pro-social y no comprometido) se ajusta mejor que el de cuatro roles (alentador, asistente, defensor y no comprometido). La PRA presenta invariancia de medición en ambos sexos, y evidencias de validez concurrente. Se concluyó que la escala posee propiedades psicométricas adecuadas para la medición de roles de espectadores.

Emotion in Stories: Facial EMG Evidence for Both Mental Simulation and Moral Evaluation

Facial electromyography research shows that corrugator supercilii ("frowning muscle") activity tracks the emotional valence of linguistic stimuli. Grounded or embodied accounts of language processing take such activity to reflect the simulation or "reenactment" of emotion, as part of the retrieval of word meaning (e.g., of "furious") and/or of building a situation model (e.g., for "Mark is furious"). However, the same muscle also expresses our primary emotional evaluation of things we encounter. Language-driven affective simulation can easily be at odds with the reader's affective evaluation of what language describes (e.g., when we like Mark being furious). To examine what happens in such cases, we independently manipulated simulation valence and moral evaluative valence in short narratives. Participants first read about characters behaving in a morally laudable or objectionable fashion: this immediately led to corrugator activity reflecting positive or negative affect. Next, and critically, a positive or negative event befell these same characters. Here, the corrugator response did not track the valence of the event, but reflected both simulation and moral evaluation. This highlights the importance of unpacking coarse notions of affective meaning in language processing research into components that reflect simulation and evaluation. Our results also call for a re-evaluation of the interpretation of corrugator EMG, as well as other affect-related facial muscles and other peripheral physiological measures, as unequivocal indicators of simulation. Research should explore how such measures behave in richer and more ecologically valid language processing, such as narrative; refining our understanding of simulation within a framework of grounded language comprehension.

Justification of Wife Beating in Adolescents: Associated Beliefs and Behaviors

Socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents who are exposed to social norms related to violence against women are more likely to experience or be perpetrators of intimate partner violence. This study evaluated factors hypothesized to be associated with acceptance of wife beating among 240 male and female adolescents aged 10-16 years participating in a World Vision program in Armenia. Acceptance of wife beating was associated with relational victimization, perceived social support, and parent and community boundaries and expectations, but was not associated with overt victimization or aggression. These findings highlight several areas that may be important for violence prevention research.

The differential effects of a focus on symptoms versus recovery in reducing stigma of schizophrenia

PURPOSE

We extend investigations of the impact of the content of video contact with an individual with schizophrenia on stigma reduction. We examine whether differential impacts persist over a 2-week period and the extent to which they are mediated by perceived similarity and feelings of empathy and/or sympathy.

METHOD

We used a randomized control trial wherein participants were exposed to a video in which an individual described his recovery from schizophrenia, or the same person described acute symptoms of schizophrenia, or a no-video control condition. Outcomes included impressions of and preferred social distance to the person in the video and people in general with schizophrenia and well as perceptions of similarity and feelings of sympathy and empathy. We also measured an overt behaviour, seating distance, at 2-week follow-up.

RESULTS

The recovery-focused material was generally more effective in improving impressions and reducing preferred level of social distance. Although the symptom-focused video resulted in great sympathy for the person, this did not translate into positive impressions or reduced social distance. Mediational analyses yielded findings consistent with the benefits of the recovery video being mediated by increased perceptions of similarity and lower feelings of sympathy. Exposure to the recovery-focused video resulted in less anxiety in anticipation of meeting the person in the video relative to the control condition.

CONCLUSIONS

Video contact emphasizing potential for recovery from schizophrenia was more effective in reducing stigmatizing responses than contact highlighting acute symptoms. Increased sympathy does not necessarily translate into reductions in stigma.

Study protocol: families and childhood transitions study (FACTS) - a longitudinal investigation of the role of the family environment in brain development and risk for mental health disorders in community based children

Background

Extant research has demonstrated that parenting behaviour can be a significant contributor to the development of brain structure and mental health during adolescence. Nonetheless, there is limited research examining these relationships during late childhood, and particularly in the critical period of brain development occurring between 8 and 10 years of age. The effects of the family environment on the brain during late childhood may have significant implications for later functioning, and particularly mental health. The Families and Childhood Transitions Study (FACTS) is a multidisciplinary longitudinal cohort study of brain development and mental health, with two waves of data collection currently funded, occurring 18-months apart, when child participants are aged approximately 8- and 10-years old.

Methods/design

Participants are 163 children (M age [SD] = 8.44 [0.34] years, 76 males) and their mothers (M age [SD] = 40.34 [5.43] years). Of the 163 families who consented to participate, 156 completed a video-recorded and observer-coded dyadic interaction task and 153 completed a child magnetic resonance imaging brain scan at baseline. Families were recruited from lower socioeconomic status (SES) areas to maximise rates of social disadvantage and variation in parenting behaviours. All experimental measures and tasks completed at baseline are repeated at an 18-month follow-up, excluding the observer coded family interaction tasks. The baseline assessment was completed in October 2015, and the 18-month follow up will be completed May 2017.

Discussion

This study, by examining the neurobiological and mental health consequences of variations in parenting, has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of child development and risk processes. Recruitment of lower SES families will also allow assessment of resilience factors given the poorer outcomes often associated with this population.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-017-0905-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.