The development of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire using classical and Rasch analyses

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Abstract

Empathic responding is implicated in antisocial behaviors such as bullying, sexual offending, and violent crime. Identifying children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior and evaluating interventions designed to address problem behaviors require valid and reliable measures. Definitional controversies and limited measurement models have hindered measurement. This study describes the development and analysis of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire (CEAQ) using both classical and modern techniques. Rasch analyses provided probabilistic results over large item and person groups, enabling meaningful inferences from patterns of responses at the construct level. Analyses of fifth through seventh graders' responses to the final version of the CEAQ provide support for its reliability, validity, and functionality. Four meaningful item clusters were identified, each reflecting more cognitively advanced empathic attitudes. These analyses suggest that the CEAQ provides a theoretically sound, hierarchically meaningful measure of empathic attitudes that will be useful in identification and intervention with children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior.

Introduction

Examining empathy in children and adolescents is important because deficits in empathic responding have been implicated in the development of antisocial behavior such as bullying (Hanish et al., 2004), aggression (Guerra et al., 1994, Richardson et al., 1994, Sams and Truscott, 2004), sexual offending (Joliffe & Farrington, 2004), and serious violent crime (Loper, Hoffschmidt, & Ash, 2001). Identifying those at risk for antisocial behavior and evaluating interventions designed to address these problems require valid and reliable measures. However, despite the fact that the construct of empathy has been examined from numerous disciplinary perspectives since the late 19th century, “empathy” is a term that has defied consensus definition and measurement. The present paper reviews definitional controversies and existing measures, and a new approach to the measurement of empathy in children that takes advantage of both classical and contemporary (Rasch) analysis is described.

One of the major historical controversies is whether empathy is primarily a cognitive or an affective phenomenon (Decety and Jackson, 2004, Kerem et al., 2001, Preston and de Waal, 2002, Rankin et al., 2005). Some advocates of the cognitive view emphasize that the intellectual understanding of the emotions of another is necessary for the affective empathic response (e.g., Duan & Hill, 1996). This social cognitive viewpoint emphasizes the cognitive, perspective-taking element of empathy and predictive accuracy (Davis et al., 2004, Strayer, 1987). Those who emphasize its affective nature define empathy as fundamentally the experience of another's emotional state (Eisenberg, Wentzel, & Harris, 1998). Once empathy occurs, then empathy-related responding occurs. This may include sympathy (defined by Eisenberg and colleagues as “other-oriented concern”), or personal distress in which one has an aversive response to experiencing another's distress (Batson, 1991). Although sympathy is associated with socially appropriate behavior and helping, personal distress may lead to escape rather than helping (Eisenberg et al., 1998).

Integrative approaches to defining empathy combine both cognitive and affective perspectives. For example, Hoffman's developmental theory addresses how the individual's emotional reactions interact with their developing cognitive capabilities to produce a specific empathic response (Hoffman, 1987, Hoffman, 2000). Feshbach (1997) also proposed an integrative developmental model in which the ability to discriminate the emotional state of another interacts with the child's ability to assume another's perspective, and with the ability to share the emotional state of the other. More recently, integrative theories have combined behavioral data with findings from functional neuroanatomy studies (Decety and Jackson, 2004, Preston and de Waal, 2002). In this conceptualization, empathy is viewed as a process, not a simple unitary response, and although empathic responding does not require conscious awareness, cognitive processes can contribute to the behavioral outcome. For example, prefrontal functions are believed to facilitate empathic responding through enhancing working memory and improving the ability to assess likely outcomes (Preston & de Waal, 2002).

Despite continuing discussion of the relative importance of cognitive or affective elements, as well as disagreement about which is process and which is outcome, there appears to be general consensus that the cognitive and affective features of empathic processing and responding are both necessary, and that the relative importance of each varies with situation (level of distress perceived or experienced), developmental level, and individual differences such as temperament (Feshbach, 1997, Zahn-Waxler, 1999). There is also agreement that at least the precursors of empathy emerge at a very early age, but that empathic responsiveness becomes more discriminating and deliberate with advances in development (Eisenberg and Fabes, 1998, Hoffman, 1987). Most agree that by later childhood, children should be able to empathize with complex situations and emotions, even with abstractions such as the condition of war victims. Most researchers have found girls to be generally more empathic than boys (Zahn-Waxler, 1998, Zahn-Waxler and Robinson, 1995), however results vary somewhat by how empathy is measured (Eisenberg and Fabes, 1998, Eisenberg and Lennon, 1983).

Several approaches have been taken to measuring empathy in children and adolescents. Comprehensive reviews can be found in Eisenberg and Strayer (1987), and Feshbach (1997). In basic research on the concept and development of empathy, multimethod approaches are favored, with measures ranging from physiological indices (see Holmgren, Eisenberg, & Fabes, 1998), response to vignettes (see Eisenberg et al., 1996), and self-report (Bryant, 1982). Although the inherent disadvantages of self-report must be acknowledged, self-report can be a vital tool for some research questions, with responses reflecting attitudes and likely behavior (Andershed, Gustafson, Kerr, & Stattin, 2002).

In reviewing self-report measures of empathy in both children and adults, it appears that what is being measured by self-report is the more cognitively-based component of empathy that can be best conceptualized as empathic attitudes. Although there is not one-to-one correspondence, due in some cases to attitudinal ambivalence (Armitage and Christian, 2003, Conner et al., 2002), there is considerable evidence that expressed attitudes are predictive of behavior across a variety of behavioral domains: for example aggression (Dahlberg et al., 1998, McConville and Cornell, 2003, Van Schoiack-Edstrom et al., 2002), cigarette smoking (Brook, Morojele, Brook, & Rosen, 2005), and adolescent pregnancy (Zabin, Astone, & Emerson, 1993). Self-report measures are one technique used to evaluate groups of children at risk for violence, or who have participated in violence prevention interventions, when it is not practical to use measures that require individual administration (see for example Dahlberg et al., 1998, Farrell et al., 2001, Farrell and Sullivan, 2004, Guerra et al., 2003).

The evaluation of empathic attitudes, though only one facet of empathy, is a meaningful endeavor for both basic and applied questions. Empathic attitudes are stable but modifiable knowledge structures: coherent, memory-based mental structures that influence behavioral choice (Eisenberg et al., 1999, Eisenberg et al., 2005). The definition of attitude as a psychological tendency that requires an evaluative component (Eagley & Chaiken, 1993) shares many characteristics with extant definitions of empathy. Attitudes may have both innate and learned components, can be stable but modifiable, and involve cognitive, affective, and behavioral evaluations and responses. Attitudes are not directly observable and must be inferred from some type of overt response.

Bryant's (1982) empathy questionnaire is a widely used self-report measure of empathy, here conceptualized as empathic attitudes, designed for use with children and adolescents. Twenty-two “yes/no” questions based on Mehrabian and Epstein's (1972) adult empathy measure assess the individual's response to common situations that typically should prompt an empathic response (e.g., “I get upset when I see a boy being hurt;” “Kids who have no friends probably don't want any” [reverse-scored]). Cronbach's alpha coefficients were .79 for a sample of seventh graders, and other psychometric properties were satisfactory (Bryant, 1982). This is a well-known and frequently used instrument, but the wording of some items is awkward and dated (“People who kiss and hug in public are silly” and “I don't feel upset when I see a classmate being punished by a teacher for not obeying school rules”), and the measure has been criticized for item heterogeneity (Eisenberg & Strayer, 1987). Additionally, having only two response options precludes the detection of possible nuances in attitudes and also limits the variability in the resultant measure.

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is another self-report measure of empathy designed for use with adults, but is also used with adolescents (Davis, 1994). The IRI has four scales: Empathic Concern, Perspective-Taking, Fantasy, and Personal Distress. Factor analysis supported this structure, and provided evidence for Eisenberg's contention that empathy (sympathy in her terminology) and personal distress are separate constructs (Pulos, Elison, & Lennon, 2004). The IRI was reworded for use in a study with fourth through sixth graders (Litvak-Miller & McDougall, 1997), however indices of reliability and validity were poor and the factors were only somewhat similar to those found by Davis (1983) in his original research.

Both the Bryant questionnaire and the IRI were developed using the principles of Classical Test Theory (CTT, Spearman, 1907, Spearman, 1913). Unlike CTT, modern measurement theory, that is, Item Response Theory (IRT), provides a more rigorous approach to measurement and is widely used in high-stakes measurement situations, such as the development of board examinations for licensing physicians. However, IRT is only slowly gaining acceptance in classical academic social science measurement. Therefore features of both models were used in the present study to develop a psychometrically sound and clinically relevant self-report measure of children's empathic attitudes, The Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire.

Our approach to instrument validation combined both Classical Test Theory with the more modern-day family of Rasch models (Rasch, 1960, Rasch, 1980). The Rasch models use the original response data as sufficient for estimating probabilities of responses — these probabilities are expressed on a log-odd scale, and the units are called logits (for log-odd units).1 Classical Test Theory describes the data at hand, whereas the Rasch analyses use these descriptive data to develop predictions over larger item and person groups. The predictive information provides a better understanding of the construct by making more meaningful comparisons of responses across different groups, times, and items.

The Rasch models construct unidimensional measures (sometimes referred to as “rulers” for the sake of analogy) where persons and items are placed on the same metric scale. For example, consider the construction of a motor development ruler for infants. This would likely be based on a unidimensional hierarchy where skills such as “rolling front-to-back” and “sitting unaided” are near the bottom of the ruler (less advanced), and skills such as standing without support are near the top (more advanced). Children can then be placed along this “motor development ruler” to measure their likelihood of achieving different milestones. Although development does follow a hierarchical structure, the sequence through which children should/might progress, can be predicted only in a probabilistic sense. This is not deterministic – some children do not follow the pattern the same way as other children – but in order to quantify a human attribute such as motor development, Rasch tools can be used to create useful rulers with additive and linear properties. How well any given data fit this conception of a quantitative linear scale is determined by the diagnostic statistics that accompany the model.

Rasch analyses also provide a set of diagnostics to help evaluate the reliability and the validity of the scores for the intended purpose. Reliability estimates not only include reliability coefficients (similar in interpretation to Cronbach's alpha), but also include estimates of the standard error spread of persons and items (referred to as the separation statistic, or G), and the number of statistically distinct groups or strata of persons that can be differentiated by the measure. Unlike their classical counterparts, these Rasch reliabilities are based on linear measures rather than raw data and therefore are suitable for statistical calculations (Merbitz, Morris, & Grip, 1989).

Rasch fit statistics assess the extent to which each item and each person perform according to expectation. For example, children with the most empathy should more strongly endorse empathic items as compared to children with less empathy. Likewise, items that elicit stronger empathic responses should be more difficult to endorse than items that elicit weaker empathic responses.

Rasch threshold statistics are provided for rating scale items (Wright & Masters, 1982). These thresholds are the estimated difficulties in choosing one response over another (for example, the difficulty in choosing “yes” over “maybe”). Thresholds should increase across the scale (i.e., it should be more difficult to answer “yes” than it is to answer “maybe”), and should be appropriately distanced from one another (i.e., at least 1.4 logits, but not further than 5 logits; Linacre, 1999) so that each rating scale category specifies a distinct meaning along the measured variable (for more detailed explanations of Rasch analyses see Bond and Fox, 2007, Wright and Masters, 1982, Wright and Stone, 1979).

In the present study, Rasch analyses were used to evaluate the extent to which children's empathic attitudes can be reliably quantified using the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire. Fifth through seventh graders were studied because by this age empathic attitudes should be fairly stable, individuals should have the cognitive capacity needed to respond to a self-report instrument, and because this is a critical age range for interventions to address emerging behavioral problems reflecting empathic deficits. The following questions guided the analysis and interpretation of the scores:

  • 1.

    How many reliably distinct groups of children can be differentiated along the empathy continuum?

  • 2.

    Do the items form together in a single unidimensional measure?

  • 3.

    Is the rating scale functioning properly?

  • 4.

    Does the item hierarchy make sense theoretically?

  • 5.

    Are there sex differences in CEAQ responding?

  • 6.

    Is there evidence of convergent and divergent validity?

Section snippets

Initial phase of measure development

Measure development proceeded in several phases, with initial phases relying on classical measure development procedures. For each phase of the project, consent was obtained from parents and all children gave assent. First, the literature on empathy definitions and development, and existing questionnaires such as the Bryant (1982), and the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1994) were carefully examined. Following this process, a 9-item measure, the Children's Empathy Questionnaire

Reliability

The CEAQ data were analyzed using the Rasch rating scale model (Andrich, 1978), with WINSTEPS software (Linacre & Wright, 2004).This model is used for rating scale data where each item format is the same across the instrument.

Internal consistency reliability, as estimated from Cronbach's alpha, was moderate at .77. The Rasch model analogue to this, i.e., person reliability, was .75. The Rasch estimate differs in that extreme persons (persons who “top out” or “bottom out” on the scale) are

Discussion

The Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire (CEAQ) was developed as a self-report measure of empathic attitudes for children and adolescents. Both classical analyses and Rasch analyses provide support for the reliability, validity, and functionality of the CEAQ scores when used with children in later elementary school years and early adolescence. Rasch analyses demonstrated adequate separation, fit, rating scale functioning, and dimensionality of the CEAQ, thus implying that empathic

Acknowledgment

We thank Dr. Robert Elliot for his assistance in the first phase of the development of this measure.

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