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Abstract
Research has indicated declining empathy within specific professions and social structures. Few psychometric instruments have addressed empathy within the context of psychological distance/relatedness to other individuals and even to other species, relationships that can be important contributors to psychological well-being and health. We developed and tested the Empathy Gradient Questionnaire (EGQ), which contains five subscales (i.e., Family, Friend, Peer, Distant Other, and Species Empathy) representing increasing psycho-spatial distances. We used LISREL to factor validate the five-factor structure of the EGQ, and we evaluated levels of empathy among a sample of n = 161 individuals, aged 18 to 60+. The EGQ was shown to have high subscale (0.80-0.89) and overall internal consistencies (0.94). The factor pattern and structural equation models showed five latent factors explaining 69.8% of variance for all variables (goodness-of-fit index [GFI] = 0.98, adjusted goodness-of-fit index [AGFI] = 0.98, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = 0.06, comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.92). There were no significant effects for age, gender, or race on overall empathy or for each of the five subscales. A decreasing gradient was noted for Friend to Species Empathies.
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