Empathy in preschool Portuguese children: Validation of the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue)

Abstract

Empathy is an important building block for social interactions, that not only allows individuals experience and understand others’ affective states, but also to helpfully respond to them. Although empathy can already be observed from infancy, only one questionnaire has been specifically developed to examine young children's empathy. This study translated and validated the original Dutch Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue) into Portuguese. A total of 250 caregivers of preschool typically developed children, aged between 3 and 6 years old, participated in this study. To assess the validation, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted, and internal consistency and concurrent validity were tested. The outcomes confirmed that the Portuguese version of the EmQue is also organized in a three-factor structure (i.e., Emotion Contagion, Attention to Others’ Feelings, and Prosocial Actions). The validation required the exclusion of five of the original items. The internal consistencies of the three EmQue scales for this Portuguese version were good. Associations between the three empathy scales with emotion recognition and prosocial behaviors were in accordance with previous research confirming concurrent validity. Divergent validity assessed through the association of the three empathy scales with aggression was partially confirmed.