Empathy and Autism: Establishing the Structure and Different Manifestations of Empathy in Autistic Individuals Using the Perth Empathy Scale.

PURPOSE: There is a common mischaracterisation that autistic individuals have reduced or absent empathy. Measurement issues may have influenced existing findings on the relationships between autism and empathy, and the structure of the empathy construct in autism remains unclear. METHODS: The present study sought to address these gaps by examining the structure and psychometric properties of the Perth Empathy Scale (PES) in autistic individuals (N = 239) compared to non-autistic individuals (N = 690). RESULTS: Our moderated non-linear factor analysis revealed that the multidimensional empathy construct manifested similarly in autistic and non-autistic individuals, with the PES displaying good validity and reliability. Moreover, the results revealed that autistic individuals reported reduced cognitive empathy and reduced affective empathy for positive and negative emotions. However, there was greater heterogeneity of empathic tendencies in the autistic sample, indicating that these mean differences may not be generalisable for all autistic individuals. CONCLUSION: The present study highlights that the PES is suitable for assessing empathy across autistic and non-autistic individuals. This work with the PES also provides greater nuance to our understanding of empathy and autism, and based on these findings, we propose the empathy heterogeneity hypothesis of autism as a new way of describing empathy in autism.

Assessing Restricted and Repetitive Behaviours in Online-Sampled Autistic and Non-autistic Individuals: Factor Structure of the Repetitive Behaviours Questionnaire for Adults (RBQ-2A).

The Repetitive Behaviours Questionnaire for Adults (RBQ-2A) measures two factors of restricted and repetitive behaviours (RRBs) associated with autism. However, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) provides four criteria for RRBs: repetitive motor behaviours, insistence on sameness, restricted interests, and interest in sensory aspects of the environment (or atypical sensitivity). The current paper aimed to examine whether the RBQ-2A is a psychometrically sound measure of these four factors. Study 1 had university students (N = 368) complete the RBQ-2A and other related measures online and revealed that the RBQ-2A can assess the factors highlighted in the DSM-5 and that these four factors comprise a general RRB construct. Study 2 had individuals disclosing a diagnosis of autism (N = 283) complete the RBQ-2A and other related measures online and supported that this four-factor structure provided good psychometric properties. While the current paper provides findings for an online autistic population, further research is needed to generalize these findings to autistic individuals less likely to partake in online studies (e.g., those with intellectual or language disabilities). Overall, the results suggest that the RBQ-2A reliably and validly assesses RRBs.

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.

Understanding Oneself to Understand Others: The Role of Alexithymia and Anxiety in the Relationships Between Autistic Trait Dimensions and Empathy.

People on the autism spectrum may have difficulty inferring others' emotions (cognitive empathy), but may share another's emotions (affective empathy) and exhibit heightened personal distress. The present study examined independent autistic trait dimensions (social difficulties and restricted/repetitive behaviours) and the roles alexithymia and trait anxiety have in explaining this profile of empathy. Results from the general population (n = 301) revealed that pronounced social difficulties and not restricted/repetitive behaviours related to reduced cognitive and affective empathy, and heightened personal distress. However, both dimensions, through alexithymia and anxiety, indirectly influenced empathy. Surprisingly, while the dimensions indirectly improved affective empathy, pronounced social difficulties directly reduced affective empathy. This study motivates a nuanced model of empathy by including autistic trait dimensions, anxiety, and alexithymia.