Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students

Bibliographic Data

ID4406557
AuthorsMehmet Emin Turan (0000-0001-8092-9642, Ağrı İbrahim Çeçen University), Ebru Turan (0009-0007-6986-0016, MİLLİ EĞİTİM BAKANLIĞI), Mustafa Açar (0000-0001-9740-3428, MİLLİ EĞİTİM BAKANLIĞI), Izaddin Ahmad Aziz (0009-0004-3683-4522, Salahaddin University-Erbil), Abdulmohsen Mohammed Abdullah Alkhulayfi (0009-0009-7333-8161, King Abdulaziz University), Hicham Khabbache (0000-0001-9587-2829, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University), Anna Rizzo (0000-0002-6229-6463, University of Messina), Francesco Chirico (0000-0002-8737-4368, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Juan Gómez-Salgado (0000-0001-9053-7730, Universidad de Especialidades Espíritu Santo), Murat Yıldırım (0000-0003-1089-1380, Khazar University)
Year2025
Volume38
Issue1
Pages9-9
Publication date2025-04-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePsicologia Reflexão e Crítica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0102-7972 • E-ISSN: 1678-7153
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1186/s41155-025-00344-3
PMID40198474
OpenAlexW4409272734
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited32

Background Empathy is an important psychological construct that plays a significant role in social interactions, mental health, and well-being. Despite the significance of empathy in psychological research and mental health, there is a lack of validated and concise measures available in Turkish. Objective This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of the eight-item Empathy Quotient (EQ- 8) in Turkish university students, assessing its reliability, convergent validity, and factor structure. Therefore, we seek to determine its suitability for use in psychological and mental health research within Turkish-speaking populations. Methods We collected the data from two groups. The data of the first group (N = 198) was used to test the factor structure of the EQ- 8 by randomly splitting the data into two halves. The first half was used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and the second half was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while the second group (N = 47) was carried out to test the reliability of EQ- 8. Results The results of the EFA and CFA yielded a one-factor solution for the EQ- 8. The internal consistency reliability was found to be good in both subsamples. Test-retest reliability was established as.86. As to the convergent validity, the scores on EQ- 8 were significantly positively related to the scores of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. Conclusions These results provide support for the Turkish version of the EQ- 8 as a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring empathy. These results contribute to cross-cultural research and the evaluation of interventions targeting empathy

Confirmatory factor analysis · Construct validity · Convergent validity · Developmental psychology · Empathy · Exploratory factor analysis · Internal consistency · Mental health · Psychiatry · Psychometrics · Reliability (semiconductor) · Statistics · Structural equation modeling · Test (biology) · Turkish · Validity · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes · Clinical Psychology · Empathy and Medical Education · Mathematics · Problem Solving Skills Development · Psychology · Social Psychology

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