ERIC Number: EJ793431
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0193-3973
EISSN: N/A
The Development of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire Using Classical and Rasch Analyses
Funk, Jeanne; Fox, Christine; Chan, Margaret; Curtiss, Kathleen
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, v29 n3 p187-196 May-Jun 2008
Empathic responding is implicated in antisocial behaviors such as bullying, sexual offending, and violent crime. Identifying children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior and evaluating interventions designed to address problem behaviors require valid and reliable measures. Definitional controversies and limited measurement models have hindered measurement. This study describes the development and analysis of the Children's Empathic Attitudes Questionnaire (CEAQ) using both classical and modern techniques. Rasch analyses provided probabilistic results over large item and person groups, enabling meaningful inferences from patterns of responses at the construct level. Analyses of fifth through seventh graders' responses to the final version of the CEAQ provide support for its reliability, validity, and functionality. Four meaningful item clusters were identified, each reflecting more cognitively advanced empathic attitudes. These analyses suggest that the CEAQ provides a theoretically sound, hierarchically meaningful measure of empathic attitudes that will be useful in identification and intervention with children and adolescents at risk for antisocial behavior.
Descriptors: Crime, Adolescents, Measures (Individuals), Grade 7, Inferences, Test Construction, Empathy, Evaluation Methods, Attitude Measures, Antisocial Behavior, At Risk Persons, Children, Grade 5, Grade 6
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 5; Grade 6; Grade 7
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A