Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students
Abstract 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 Tur...
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SpringerOpen
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-025-00344-3 |
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| author | Mehmet Emin Turan Erkan Turan Mustafa Açar Izaddin Ahmad Aziz Abdulmohsen Mohammed Abdullah Alkhulayfi Hicham Khabbache Amelia Rizzo Francesco Chirico Juan Gómez-Salgado Murat Yıldırım |
| author_facet | Mehmet Emin Turan Erkan Turan Mustafa Açar Izaddin Ahmad Aziz Abdulmohsen Mohammed Abdullah Alkhulayfi Hicham Khabbache Amelia Rizzo Francesco Chirico Juan Gómez-Salgado Murat Yıldırım |
| author_sort | Mehmet Emin Turan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e5502390cb7e421db84d7fd77481d552 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1678-7153 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica |
| spelling | doaj-art-e5502390cb7e421db84d7fd77481d5522025-08-20T02:11:47ZengSpringerOpenPsicologia: Reflexão e Crítica1678-71532025-04-013811910.1186/s41155-025-00344-3Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university studentsMehmet Emin Turan0Erkan Turan1Mustafa Açar2Izaddin Ahmad Aziz3Abdulmohsen Mohammed Abdullah Alkhulayfi4Hicham Khabbache5Amelia Rizzo6Francesco Chirico7Juan Gómez-Salgado8Murat Yıldırım9Department of Psychology, Ağrı Ibrahim Cecen UniversityTurkish Ministry of National EducationTurkish Ministry of National EducationPsychological and Educational Counselling Department, College of Education, Salahaddin University-ErbilDepartment of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administration, King Abdulaziz UniversityDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Human Sciences Fès-Saïss, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah UniversityDepartment of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of MessinaPost-Graduate School of Occupational Health, Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreDepartment of Sociology, Social Work and Public Health, Faculty of Labour Sciences, University of HuelvaDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Letters, Agri Ibrahim Cecen UniversityAbstract 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.https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-025-00344-3EmpathyValidityReliabilityTurkish university students |
| spellingShingle | Mehmet Emin Turan Erkan Turan Mustafa Açar Izaddin Ahmad Aziz Abdulmohsen Mohammed Abdullah Alkhulayfi Hicham Khabbache Amelia Rizzo Francesco Chirico Juan Gómez-Salgado Murat Yıldırım Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica Empathy Validity Reliability Turkish university students |
| title | Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students |
| title_full | Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students |
| title_fullStr | Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students |
| title_short | Validity and reliability study of the Turkish version of the Empathy Quotient- 8 in Turkish university students |
| title_sort | validity and reliability study of the turkish version of the empathy quotient 8 in turkish university students |
| topic | Empathy Validity Reliability Turkish university students |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s41155-025-00344-3 |
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