Analyzing the Factor Structure of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire: Dimensionality, Reliability, Validity, Measurement Invariance and One-Year Stability of the German Version.

In the face of heterogeneity in the measurement of empathy, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ; Spreng et al., Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(1), 62-71 (2009)) was developed as a brief unidimensional tool by statistically forming a consensus from existing measures of the construct. The present study aimed to (1) validate a German version of the TEQ, and (2) contribute empirical evidence to the ongoing debate regarding a singular versus multidimensional factor structure of the TEQ. One cross-sectional and two longitudinal studies were performed, with a total of 1,075 participants. Our initial exploratory factor analyses suggested either a one- or a two-factor structure (with the two-factors clustering straight and reverse-scored items); the two-factor model outperformed the one-factor model using confirmatory factor analyses. However, after negated items were replaced by positively reworded alternatives, both models fit the data equally well. A comparison of the correlation patterns with numerous external measures indicated that a second factor of the TEQ is a methodological artifact of item wording. Finally, a unidimensional TEQ scale showed sufficient internal consistency, two-week test-retest reliability, one-year stability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity with measures of empathy, emotion recognition, emotion regulation, altruism, social desirability, and the Big Five personality traits.

On the feeling of being different-an interview study with people who define themselves as highly sensitive.

The construct of "sensory processing sensitivity" has become an extremely popular concept outside the scientific literature under the term "high sensitivity" (HS), reflected in a variety of self-help guides and media reports. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate this phenomenon by examining in-depth individuals who consider the label HS essential to their self-definition. In semi-structured interviews, 38 individuals described their understanding of HS and its perceived manifestations and impact on their lives (among other topics). Subsequently, the data were content-analytically evaluated, i.e., categorized and quantified. One key finding was that HS individuals feel relief following self-attribution or self-diagnosis. Moreover, this self-attribution replaced the feeling of being somehow different from the others, which almost all interviewees mentioned, with positive attributes. The main negative features of HS mentioned were feeling overwhelmed by sensory and emotional stimuli. The results are discussed with regard to the significance of the label HS for this group on the one hand, and with regard to alternative approaches for future research on the other hand.

Testing the social mindfulness paradigm: Longitudinal evidence of its unidimensionality, reliability, validity, and replicability in a sample of health care providers.

OBJECTIVES: Social mindfulness is a relatively new concept in psychological research and is attracting increasing attention. Recent studies have provided evidence of its relevance with regard to prosocial behavior and empathy, but also concerning individual well-being and psychological health. In such studies, social mindfulness has been assessed using the social mindfulness paradigm by Van Doesum and colleagues, which is the standard measure of social mindfulness to date. However, evidence is scarce or lacking with regard to whether this measurement approach is unidimensional, whether it produces (test-retest) reliable and valid measurements, and whether its associations with personality and empathy are replicable. METHODS: To test these assumptions, we assessed a sample of 265 participants currently working in health care professions on social mindfulness, several concepts of empathy, and the HEXACO personality dimensions longitudinally at two measurement occasions. RESULTS: The results supported the assumption of unidimensionality of the measure. Partial support was found for its reliability, validity, and replicability. Test-retest reliability was acceptable, but the associations with personality and empathy turned out weaker than expected. CONCLUSIONS: The social mindfulness paradigm is an interesting approach toward understanding social mindfulness, meaning mindfulness of other people's needs. Potential directions for the further development of the social mindfulness paradigm and its network of relations, especially to empathy, are discussed.

The interplay of acceptance and effectiveness in intervention studies: the example of the empCARE training to reduce burnout and distress symptoms in health care providers.

OBJECTIVE: Although almost every study evaluating psychological interventions includes the two components of acceptability and effectivity, their relationship is rarely examined. The current study closes this gap by performing secondary analyses of the intervention program 'empCARE'. The goal was to analyze the relationship between these two evaluation components. DESIGN: The sample consists of 309 nurses (intervention group n = 172; control group n = 137). Data were collected before the training and longitudinally three times after the training. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychological distress was assessed using the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Personality traits were assessed using the HEXACO-60 and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. Acceptability was assessed using statements concerning participants' subjective evaluation of the training. RESULTS: The results show that the intervention program was effective. Acceptability, measured only in the intervention group, was quite high. However, no connection was found between effectivity and acceptability. On the contrary, the results show that acceptability assessments depend more on personality factors than on intervention success. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers should examine the relationship between acceptability and effectivity in their data. It does not seem appropriate to rely on acceptability measurements as the sole evaluation criterion capturing the success of an intervention.

The influence of emotional salience on gaze behavior in low and high trait empathy: an exploratory eye-tracking study.

Previous studies have shown that situational factors like emotional salience are associated with higher subjective levels of state empathy. The present eye-tracking study explored whether gaze behavior varies as a function of emotional salience between individuals with low and high self-reported trait empathy. In a between-subjects design, we presented three social scene images in the context of different emotion conditions (Scene 1: neutral versus positive; Scene 2: neutral versus negative; Scene 3: positive versus negative) and assessed the dwell times of individuals with low versus high self-reported empathy (measured with the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire; TEQ). Analyses revealed that whereas low- and high-TEQ participants differed in their gaze behavior after receiving neutral information, they did not differ after receiving positive or negative information. Our preliminary results suggest that gaze behavior may be more indicative of self-reported trait empathy in situations with low emotional salience than in situations with high emotional salience.

Personality types revisited-a literature-informed and data-driven approach to an integration of prototypical and dimensional constructs of personality description.

A new algorithmic approach to personality prototyping based on Big Five traits was applied to a large representative and longitudinal German dataset (N = 22,820) including behavior, personality and health correlates. We applied three different clustering techniques, latent profile analysis, the k-means method and spectral clustering algorithms. The resulting cluster centers, i.e. the personality prototypes, were evaluated using a large number of internal and external validity criteria including health, locus of control, self-esteem, impulsivity, risk-taking and wellbeing. The best-fitting prototypical personality profiles were labeled according to their Euclidean distances to averaged personality type profiles identified in a review of previous studies on personality types. This procedure yielded a five-cluster solution: resilient, overcontroller, undercontroller, reserved and vulnerable-resilient. Reliability and construct validity could be confirmed. We discuss wether personality types could comprise a bridge between personality and clinical psychology as well as between developmental psychology and resilience research.

The risk of empathy: longitudinal associations between empathy and burnout.

OBJECTIVE: Prior research on the relation between empathy and burnout in social professions appears to be inconsistent. Whereas some studies have claimed that empathy functions as a buffer against burnout, others have argued that empathy contributes to the development of burnout. One explanation for this disparity may be methodological as most studies have relied on cross-sectional single-measure designs. To examine their cross-sectional and longitudinal associations, the present study analyzed cross-lagged data of several measures of empathy and burnout. DESIGN: Data from two longitudinal studies with three to twelve months between measurements were analyzed. The samples contained 172 nursing students and 186 nurses, respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test, and the Social Mindfulness Test Paradigm. Burnout was assessed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Irritation Scale, and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. RESULTS: Results showed significant cross-sectional correlations between the questionnaire measures of empathy and burnout. However, there was insufficient support for the cross-lagged associations. CONCLUSIONS: Associations between empathy and burnout may be attributed to the methodological limitations of cross-sectional designs. However, the influence of potential moderators is discussed as a promising direction of future research.

A Comparison of the Predictive Validity of Self-Esteem Level and Directly Measured Self-Esteem Stability in the Temporal Prediction of Psychological Distress.

In contrast to the widely used assessment approach in which self-esteem stability is measured as the standard deviation of repeated measurements, direct measurements of self-esteem stability have hardly ever been implemented in longitudinal studies. The primary goal of the present study was to examine the temporal stability and predictive validity of a direct assessment of self-esteem stability compared with the trait level of self-esteem with respect to the prediction of psychological distress (PD). We examined a sample of 136 employees who completed self-report measures of both self-esteem level [Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)] and self-esteem stability [Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS)] along with a measure of PD (SCL-90) at two time points across an interval of 1 year. The results underline the relevance of perceived self-esteem stability in the temporal prediction of PD: After controlling for initial PD, we found that self-esteem stability predicted PD better than self-esteem level did. Therefore, we recommend that the RSES be expanded by adding the three SESS items that directly measure the stability of self-esteem.

The Self-esteem Stability Scale (SESS) for Cross-Sectional Direct Assessment of Self-esteem Stability.

Self-esteem stability describes fluctuations in the level of self-esteem experienced by individuals over a brief period of time. In recent decades, self-esteem stability has repeatedly been shown to be an important variable affecting psychological functioning. However, measures of self-esteem stability are few and lacking in validity. In this paper, we present the Self-Esteem Stability Scale (SESS), a unidimensional and very brief scale to directly assess self-esteem stability. In four studies (total N = 826), we describe the development of the SESS and present evidence for its validity with respect to individual outcomes (life satisfaction, neuroticism, and vulnerable narcissism) and dyadic outcomes (relationship satisfaction in self- and partner ratings) through direct comparisons with existing measures. The new SESS proved to be a stronger predictor than the existing scales and had incremental validity over and above self-esteem level. The results also showed that all cross-sectional measures of self-esteem stability were only moderately associated with variability in self-esteem levels assessed longitudinally with multiple administrations of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We discuss this validity issue, arguing that direct and indirect assessment approaches measure relevant, yet different aspects of self-esteem stability.

[The Dresden Body Image Inventory (DKB-35): validity in a clinical sample]. / Der Dresdner Körperbildfragebogen (DKB-35): Validierung auf der Basis einer klinischen Stichprobe.

The Dresden Body Image Questionnaire (DKB-35) measures 5 dimensions of body image: vitality, self-acceptance, self-aggrandisement, physical closeness, and sexual fulfilment. This article presents data on the reliability and validity of the DKB-35. The sample consisted of 560 pa-tients with psychosomatic disorders. To analyse the factor structure, a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. To examine the convergent validity, correlations between the DKB-35 scales and the Frankfurt Body Concept Scales (FKKS, [1]), the Narcissism Personality Inventory (NPI, [2]) and the self-esteem subscale of the Frankfurt Self-Concept Scales (FSKN, [3]) were computed. The 5 scales of the DKB-35 showed excellent reliability. Between the 5 DKB-35 scales and the corresponding scales of the FKKS, the NPI, and the FSKN, moderate correlations were found. The results confirm the reliability and validity of the DKB-35. Possible fields of applications and further developments are discussed.

What is the General Health Questionnaire-12 assessing? Dimensionality and psychometric properties of the General Health Questionnaire-12 in a large scale German population sample.

Since the dimensionality and the related psychometric properties of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) are still under debate, the present study compares different factor solutions from the literature to determine which shows the best fit and to investigate reliability and construct validity. The analyses are based on a German population based representative sample (N=2,041), using face-to-face-interviews. The confirmatory factor analysis indicates the best fit to the one-factor model including response bias on the negative worded items according to Hankins. Thus, the importance of methodical aspects for the dimensionality was emphasized. Moreover, the correlations of the different subscales of the two- and three-factor models with several external criteria (BDI, PHQ-2, SF-36, PHQ-Anxiety, SPIN) do not substantially differ. The preferred unidimensional model shows good psychometric properties. According to its associations with the external criteria under study, the GHQ-12 as a unidimensional measure seems to be a useful screening tool for the assessment of mental distress or a minor psychiatric morbidity with a main focus on depressive symptomatology.

Domains of disgust sensitivity: revisited factor structure of the questionnaire for the assessment of disgust sensitivity (QADS) in a cross-sectional, representative German survey.

BACKGROUND: Disgust sensitivity is defined as a predisposition to experiencing disgust, which can be measured on the basis of the Disgust Scale and its German version, the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Disgust Sensitivity (QADS). In various studies, different factor structures were reported for either instrument. The differences may most likely be due to the selected factor analysis estimation methods and the small non-representative samples. Consequently, the aims of this study were to explore and confirm a theory-driven and statistically coherent QADS factor structure in a large representative sample and to present its standard values. METHODS: The QADS was answered by N = 2473 healthy subjects. The respective households and participants were selected using the random-route sampling method. Afterwards, the collected sample was compared to the information from the Federal Statistical Office to ensure that it was representative for the German residential population. With these data, an exploratory Promax-rotated Principal Axis Factor Analysis as well as comparative confirmatory factor analyses with robust Maximum Likelihood estimations were computed. Any possible socio-demographic influences were quantified as effect sizes. RESULTS: The data-driven and theoretically sound solution with the three highly interrelated factors Animal Reminder Disgust, Core Disgust, and Contamination Disgust led to a moderate model fit. All QADS scales had very good reliabilities (Cronbach's alpha) from .90 to .95. There were no age-differences found among the participants, however, the female participants showed remarkably higher disgust ratings. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the representative sample, the QADS factor structure was revised. Gender-specific standard percentages permit a population-based assessment of individual disgust sensitivity. The differences of the original QADS, the new solution, and the Disgust Scale - Revised will be discussed.

The construct validity of social inhibition and the type-D taxonomy.

In contrast to the prognostic validity of the type-D personality, there is still little knowledge on the construct validity. In a sample of 102 healthy young adults the construct validity was analysed against the Big-Five dimensions, four of the 16 PF factors, and repressive emotion regulation. Social inhibition was associated with Apprehensiveness, and low scores in social competencies and self-deception. The three non-type-D clusters clearly differed; the restrained cluster emerged as opposite to the type-D cluster in nearly every personality dimension and type of emotion regulation. The article concludes that emotion regulation in socially inhibited persons deserves further investigation.

Typological and dimensional approach at comparing the Giessen Test (GT) with the NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory (NEO-FFI).

OBJECTIVES: This article reports comparisons of the Giessen Test (GT) with the NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory (NEO-FFI) based on a dimensional as well as on a typological approach. METHOD: Data were collected from 1673 subjects (aged between 18 and 96 years) constituting a representative sample of the German population. RESULTS: The results indicate only moderate agreement (ranging from .25 to .61) between the subscales of the two personality inventories. The correspondence seems to be somewhat higher, when the typological approach was used instead of the dimensional approach. CONCLUSIONS: The typological approach is less dependent on the underlying questionnaires and provides a useful extension of the dimensional approach.

[Personality assessment with the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory: the 30-Item-Short-Version (NEO-FFI-30)]. / Persönlichkeitsdiagnostik mit dem NEO-Fünf-Faktoren-Inventar: Die 30-Item-Kurzversion (NEO-FFI-30).

Over these past years, German researchers have shown much interest for Costa and McCrae's five factor model as well as for their instrument: the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory . Nevertheless, results from a recent survey study using the German version of the NEO-FFI on a representative population sample (n = 1908) have reported problems to replicate the factor structure of the instrument. Insufficient psychometric indices of single items led to partly unsatisfactory scale values. A logical consequence of this was the development of a short version of the instrument with better psychometric properties. This article reports item and scale values of the NEO-FFI-30 for the German population sample. The five scales reach good internal consistency and are highly correlated with the original NEO-FFI scales. Furthermore, the influence of sociodemographic variables and correlations with the Giessentest appear to be very similar for both the original instrument and the short version. Moreover, the factor structure was replicated in an independent sample of 2508 adults. Results confirm the reliability, and factor and construct validity of this economic instrument without any significant loss in information.

Hope as an emotion of expectancy: first assessment results.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: Based on deficiencies of present conceptions of hope, an appraisal model is proposed as an alternative approach, in which hope is defined as the expectancy that a possible event, which a person rates positively, will occur in the future. The event depends both on situational and internal factors. This model differentiates between a subjective probability of occurrence and a subjective probability of affiliation. The first refers to a person's estimation of the probability that a positive event can occur in general (e.g. the chances of recovering from a life-threatening illness); the second refers to the estimated probability that he/she belongs to those, for which the positive outcome is likely. OBJECTIVE: The present contribution is a first validation of the appraisal model of hope. METHODS: On a sample of prisoners (N=172) the degree of hope never to be incarcerated again after serving the present sentence was tested. Furthermore, personality dimensions, psychological distress, perceived social support and features of childhood delinquency were assessed using questionnaires. RESULTS: As expected, the results indicate that both probability-estimations are largely independent of each other and were predicted by different factors (such as duration of arrest, anxiety, social support, or childhood delinquency).

[Moffitt's developmental taxonomy as seen by new results--some remarks on the "adolescence-limited" delinquency]. / Die Entwicklungstaxonomie von Moffitt im Spiegel neuerer Befunde--Einige Bemerkungen zur "jugendgebundenen" Delinquenz.

In her taxonomy Moffitt describes two developmental pathways into delinquent behaviour: an episodic, "adolescence-limited" occurrence of delinquent behavior and a pathway characterised by an early onset and a stable course of delinquent behavior ("life-course-persistent"). Referring to the results of recent longitudinal studies the present paper inspects the empirical validity of the theory. The reported studies support both pathways postulated by Moffitt and emphasise the relevance of the onset of delinquent behaviour in the developmental course (childhood-onset vs. adolescence-onset). However, contrary to Moffitts model, the results also pointed out, that "adolescence-onset" can not be put on one level with "adolescence-limited". The results let us rather assume that there exists another pathway beside the two postulated by Moffitt, in which delinquent behaviour starts in adolescence (without an antisocial history in childhood) and continues into adulthood. Based on these results a broadening of perspective is pled for, in which the adolescence is also expected as a "sensible period" to the beginning of a delinquent development. The questions arising from this are outlined for future research.

[Sex differences in body image of adolescents and significance for self esteem]. / Geschlechtsunterschiede im Körperbild Jugendlicher und deren Bedeutung für das Selbstwertgefühl.

Previous findings show that the body image of adolescents is in the first place gender related. However, most studies primarily focus on body cathexis. The present study, which was conducted in the context of a multi-dimensional perspective, refers to the question of gender differences in the adolescent's body image. Furthermore, it examines what relevance the single components of the body image have for general self-esteem. Therefore, we tested 326 adolescents aged 13 to 16 using questionnaires. The results indicate that there is primarily evidence for gender differences, whereas age related differences can hardly be found: Female adolescents differ from their male counterparts for example in the following aspects: they have a higher body awareness, a higher dissatisfaction with their shape, a lower perceived athletic competence and stronger feelings of depersonalisation. However, considering the effect sizes, it becomes clear that the differences mainly come up to only a low extend. Besides, the individual body image profile is hardly suitable to determine the gender of the adolescents. Furthermore, using regression analysis it was shown that altogether the body image has the same relevance for males and females in order to predict self-esteem. Nevertheless, there are special body image components that help to predict body image for boys and girls differently. The results show that the body image of adolescents is gender-depending but not gender specific. So demand arises for investigating the determinants of the development of the adolescent's body image that go beyond the gender-variable.