Development of the Empathy in Romantic Relationships Scale: Validity and Reliability Study

Küçük Resim Yok

Tarih

2025

Dergi Başlığı

Dergi ISSN

Cilt Başlığı

Yayıncı

Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Association

Erişim Hakkı

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Özet

The present study aimed to develop the Empathy in Romantic Relationships Scale and to examine its psychometric properties to assess empathy skills within romantic relationships. To develop the scale, an extensive literature review was first conducted, resulting in a preliminary pool. Expert opinions were then obtained, and the items were revised accordingly. Data were collected from 504 individuals (293 females, 58.1%; 211 males, 41.9%) who were married (60.1%), engaged (10.1%), or in a dating relationship (29.8%) to conduct an exploratory factor analysis. The results revealed a two-dimensional structure consisting of nine items. These dimensions were identified as Emotional Empathy and Cognitive Empathy. In the second phase, data were gathered from 222 individuals (158 females, 71.2%; 64 males, 28.8%) who were married (34.7%), engaged (18%), or in a dating relationship (47.3%) to perform a confirmatory factor analysis based on the previously obtained structure. Reliability was examined through Cronbach’s alpha internal consistency coefficients and test–retest analyses. In the item analyses, correlations among the items were assessed, and the mean scores of the lower 27% and upper 27% groups were compared using independent samples t-tests. Criterion-related validity was evaluated by calculating Pearson’s product–moment correlation coefficients between the new scale and the Toronto Empathy Scale as well as the Tolerance Tendency Scale. The findings indicated that the Empathy in Romantic Relationships Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring empathy in romantic relationships. © 2025 The Authors. Turkish Journal of Counseling Psychology and Guidance is published by Turkish Psychological Counselling and Guidance Association. This is an article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. As the original work is properly cited, reproduction in any medium is permitted.

Açıklama

Anahtar Kelimeler

Cognitive empathy, Emotional empathy, Empathy, Romantic relationship, Scale development

Kaynak

Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal

WoS Q Değeri

Scopus Q Değeri

Q4

Cilt

15

Sayı

79

Künye