多次元共感性尺度作成の試み

The past studies in empathy have indicated that empathy is an important aspect of interpersonal behavior and moral conduct, as well as a motivator for prosocial and/or altruistic behavior. In recent years, it has been growing movement toward an understanding of empathy as a multidimensional construct, and accordingly a more comprehensive index of empathy that includes both emotional and cognitive aspects in a multidimensional fashion has become necessary. The present study presents the development and validation of a measure of trait empathy for use with adolescents. The Multidimensional Empathy Scale (MES) was developed and administered to 735 adolescents, and its relationships with measures of interpersonal reactivity, social desirability, and helping norm were assessed. A principal components analysis of the MES was performed to determine the underlying structure, and it yielded six interpretable factors : Other-oriented affective reactivity, Competence to others' mental states, Susceptibility to others' mental states, Self-oriented affective reactivity, Attitudes to interpersonal affects, and Fantasy. The findings supported in general the reliability and validity of the MES, but several limitations of the scale and issues for future research were also discussed.