title: Characteristics of Empathy in young people measured by the Spanish validation of the Basic Empathy Scale.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Empathy is a personality feature that can play a major role in predicting the emotional and social functioning of adolescents (Jolliffe &amp; Farrington, 2006). Recent research confirms the existence of two fundamental dimensions embedded within this construct, Affective Empathy (experiencing a congruent emotional response with another person) and Cognitive Empathy (understanding rationally the emotions of another person). The Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe &amp; Farrington, 2006) is an up-to-date instrument which has been reported to satisfactorily measure these two dimensions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a sample of 752 adolescents (339 males, 413 females) aged 14-25 who completed the Spanish adaptation of BES.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Spanish adaptation of the scale had the same bi-factorial structure as the original (CFI = .93). This adaptation also showed both satisfactory reliability (Cronbach&rsquo;s alpha coefficient &gt; .92) and discriminant and convergent validity with regard to measurements of Narcissism, Psychoticism and Agreeableness. Females were found to have higher scores than males both in Affective and Cognitive Empathy. Both subscales show a direct significant correlation with age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The evidence suggested that this revised scale possessed good psychometric properties for evaluating empathy in Spanish young people.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Oviedo.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Villadangos
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Errasti
authors.forename: Isaac
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Amigo
authors.forename: Darrick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jolliffe
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: García-Cueto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D055815:Young Adult / Q000523:psychology*