IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i10p5343-d556373.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Psychometric Analysis of the Czech Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire

Author

Listed:
  • Lukas Novak

    (Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
    Department of Community and Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Klara Malinakova

    (Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic)

  • Petr Mikoska

    (Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic)

  • Jitse P. van Dijk

    (Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic
    Department of Community and Occupational Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
    Graduate School Kosice Institute for Society and Health, P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, 040 11 Kosice, Slovakia)

  • Filip Dechterenko

    (College of Polytechnics Jihlava, 586 01 Jihlava, Czech Republic)

  • Radek Ptacek

    (Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, 128 00 Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Peter Tavel

    (Olomouc University Social Health Institute, Palacky University in Olomouc, 771 11 Olomouc, Czech Republic)

Abstract

Empathy is a concept associated with various positive outcomes. However, to measure such a multifaceted concept, valid and reliable tools are needed. Negatively worded items (NWIs) are suspected to decrease some psychometric parameters of assessment instruments, which complicates the research of empathy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the factor structure and validity of the TEQ on the Czech population, including the influence of the NWIs. Data were collected from three surveys. In total, 2239 Czech participants were included in our study. Along with socio-demographic information, we measured empathy, neuroticism, spirituality, self-esteem, compassion and social desirability. NWI in general yielded low communalities, factor loadings and decreased internal consistency. Therefore, in the next steps, we tested the model consisting of their positively reformulated versions. A higher empathy was found in females, married and religious individuals. We further found positive associations between empathy, compassion and spirituality. After the sample was split in half, exploratory factor analysis of the model with reformulated items was followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which supported a unidimensional solution with good internal consistency: Cronbach’s α = 0.85 and McDonald’s ω = 0.85. The CFA indicated an acceptable fit χ 2 (14) = 83.630; p < 0.001; CFI = 0.997; TLI = 0.995; RMSEA = 0.070; SRMR = 0.037. The Czech version of the TEQ is a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of empathy. The use of NWIs in Czech or in a similar language environment seems to be questionable and their rewording may represent a more reliable approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukas Novak & Klara Malinakova & Petr Mikoska & Jitse P. van Dijk & Filip Dechterenko & Radek Ptacek & Peter Tavel, 2021. "Psychometric Analysis of the Czech Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-16, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5343-:d:556373
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5343/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/10/5343/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Horn, 1965. "A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 30(2), pages 179-185, June.
    2. Rosseel, Yves, 2012. "lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 48(i02).
    3. Radka Zidkova & Klara Malinakova & Jitse P. van Dijk & Peter Tavel, 2021. "The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Occurrence of Psychosomatic Symptoms: Are They Related?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-12, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sorin Ursoniu & Costela Lacrimioara Serban & Catalina Giurgi-Oncu & Ioana Alexandra Rivis & Adina Bucur & Ana-Cristina Bredicean & Ion Papava, 2021. "Validation of the Romanian Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) among Undergraduate Medical Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Klara Malinakova & Lukas Novak & Radek Trnka & Peter Tavel, 2021. "Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire: A Psychometric Evaluation and Associations with Experiencing the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Zaitun Mohd Saman & Ab Hamid Siti-Azrin & Azizah Othman & Yee Cheng Kueh, 2021. "The Validity and Reliability of the Malay Version of the Cyberbullying Scale among Secondary School Adolescents in Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-12, November.
    3. Carlos Miguel Lemos & Ross Joseph Gore & Ivan Puga-Gonzalez & F LeRon Shults, 2019. "Dimensionality and factorial invariance of religiosity among Christians and the religiously unaffiliated: A cross-cultural analysis based on the International Social Survey Programme," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-36, May.
    4. Attanasio, Orazio & Blundell, Richard & Conti, Gabriella & Mason, Giacomo, 2020. "Inequality in socio-emotional skills: A cross-cohort comparison," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    5. Iván Sánchez-Iglesias & Mónica Bernaldo-de-Quirós & Francisco J. Estupiñá & Ignacio Fernández-Arias & Marta Labrador & Marina Vallejo-Achón & Jesús Saiz & Francisco J. Labrador, 2022. "Maladaptive Cognitions in Adolescents and Young Adults When They Play: The Dysfunctional Cognitions in Gaming Scale (DCG)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Angel M. Dzhambov & Peter Lercher & Drozdstoy Stoyanov & Nadezhda Petrova & Stoyan Novakov & Donka D. Dimitrova, 2021. "University Students’ Self-Rated Health in Relation to Perceived Acoustic Environment during the COVID-19 Home Quarantine," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-21, March.
    7. Silvia Mariela Méndez-Prado & Vanessa Rodriguez & Kevin Peralta-Rizzo & Patricia Everaert & Martin Valcke, 2023. "An Assessment Tool to Identify the Financial Literacy Level of Financial Education Programs Participants’ Executed by Ecuadorian Financial Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    8. Simon Foster & Meichun Mohler-Kuo, 2020. "The proportion of non-depressed subjects in a study sample strongly affects the results of psychometric analyses of depression symptoms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.
    9. Adam P. McGuire & Candice L. Hayden & Rawda Tomoum & A. Solomon Kurz, 2022. "Development and Validation of the State Moral Elevation Scale: Assessing State-Level Elevation Across Nonclinical and Clinical Samples," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 2923-2946, August.
    10. W. Holmes Finch, 2024. "Comparison of Methods for Addressing Outliers in Exploratory Factor Analysis and Impact on Accuracy of Determining the Number of Factors," Stats, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-21, August.
    11. Elise Barrella & Elisabeth Pyburn Spratto & Eric Pappas & Robert Nagel, 2018. "Developing and Validating an Individual Sustainability Instrument with Engineering Students to Motivate Intentional Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.
    12. Ryan M. K. Chan & Winnie W. S. Mak & Ben C. L. Yu, 2023. "Going beyond Mindfulness: How Concentration and Tranquility Commonly Co-Arising with Mindfulness Account for Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(8), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Xijuan Zhang & Ramsha Noor & Victoria Savalei, 2016. "Examining the Effect of Reverse Worded Items on the Factor Structure of the Need for Cognition Scale," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Sarah Herpertz & Sophia Nizielski & Michael Hock & Astrid Schütz, 2016. "The Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Personnel Selection for High Emotional Labor Jobs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, April.
    15. Julia Krasko & Sabrina Intelisano & Maike Luhmann, 2022. "When Happiness is Both Joy and Purpose: The Complexity of the Pursuit of Happiness and Well-Being is Related to Actual Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(7), pages 3233-3261, October.
    16. José Luis Carrasco-Sáez & Marcelo Careaga Butter & María Graciela Badilla-Quintana & Juan Molina-Farfán, 2021. "Analysis of Psychometric Properties and Validation of the Personal Learning Environments Questionnaire (B-PLE) in Higher Education Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Sati Bozkurt & Gizem B. Ekitli & Christopher L. Thomas & Jerrell C. Cassady, 2017. "Validation of the Turkish Version of the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale–Revised," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(1), pages 21582440166, January.
    18. Dandara Gabriela Haag & Pedro Henrique Ribeiro Santiago & Davi Manzini Macedo & João Luiz Bastos & Yin Paradies & Lisa Jamieson, 2020. "Development and initial psychometric assessment of the race-related attitudes and multiculturalism scale in Australia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(4), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Nichole Fairbrother & Fanie Collardeau & Arianne Albert & Kathrin Stoll, 2022. "Screening for Perinatal Anxiety Using the Childbirth Fear Questionnaire: A New Measure of Fear of Childbirth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-23, February.
    20. van Dijk, Wilco W. & van der Werf, Minou M.B. & van Dillen, Lotte F., 2022. "The Psychological Inventory of Financial Scarcity (PIFS): A psychometric evaluation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:10:p:5343-:d:556373. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.