Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The “Measure of Empathy in Early Childhood”: Psychometric Properties and Associations with Externalizing Problems and Callous Unemotional Traits

  • Research
  • Published:
Child Psychiatry & Human Development Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Empathy is crucial to the development of socio-emotional skills in youth and empathy development is central to understanding and subtyping youth with externalizing problems. This study explored for the first time the psychometric properties of the Measure of Empathy in Early Childhood (MEEC) in a sample of 652 Italian children aged 6 to 8 years. The gender invariance of MEEC scores and their associations with other measures of empathy and prosocial behavior, and children’s externalizing problems and callous-unemotional (CU) traits were also evaluated. Results indicated that with some modifications, a 5-factor structure of the Italian version of MEEC scores fitted the data and was invariant across gender. Results further supported the reliability and validity of MEEC total and subscale scores. Practical implications of these results are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The data are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable.

References

  1. Cuff BMP, Brown SJ, Taylor L, Howat DJ (2016) Empathy: a review of the concept. Emot Rev 8:144–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Decety J, Meyer M (2008) From emotion resonance to empathic understanding: a social developmental neuroscience account. Dev Psychopathol 20:1053–1080

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Nancy Eisenberg N, Wentzel M, Harris JD (1998) The role of emotionality and regulation in empathy-related responding. School Psych Rev 27:506–521

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Clark AJ (2010) Empathy and sympathy: therapeutic distinctions in counseling. J Ment Heal Couns 32

  5. Decety J, Michalska KJ (2010) Neurodevelopmental changes in the circuits underlying empathy and sympathy from childhood to adulthood. Dev Sci 13:886–899

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Feshbach DC (1989) Empathy training and prosocial behavior. In: Grobel J, Hinde RA (eds) Aggression and war: their biological and social basis. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 101–111

    Google Scholar 

  7. Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S (2004) The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. J Autism Dev Disord 34:163–175

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Kimonis ER, Jain N, Neo B et al (2023) Development of an empathy rating scale for young children. Assessment 30:37–50

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Decety J, Svetlova M (2012) Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2:1–24

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Decety J, Bartal IBA, Uzefovsky F, Knafo-Noam A (2016) Empathy as a driver of prosocial behaviour: highly conserved neurobehavioural mechanisms across species. Philos Trans R Soc B Biol Sci 371

  11. Joireman JA, Needham TL, Cummings A-L (2002) Relationships between dimensions of attachment and empathy. N Am J Psychol 4:63–80

    Google Scholar 

  12. Zhou Q, Eisenberg N, Losoya SH et al (2002) The relations of parental warmth and positive expressiveness to children’s empathy-related responding and social functioning: a longitudinal study. Child Dev 73:893–915

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Sallquist J, Eisenberg N, Spinrad TL et al (2009) Assessment of preschoolers’ positive empathy: concurrent and longitudinal relations with positive emotion, social competence, and sympathy. J Posit Psychol 4:223–233

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. De Wied M, Branje SJT, Meeus WHJ (2007) Empathy and conflict resolution in friendship relations among adolescents. Aggress Behav off J Int Soc Res Aggress 33:48–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Eisenberg N, Eggum ND, Di Giunta L (2010) Empathy-related responding: associations with prosocial behavior, aggression, and intergroup relations. Soc Issues Policy Rev 4:143–180. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-2409.2010.01020.x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Aksan N, Kochanska G (2005) Conscience in childhood: old questions, new answers. Dev Psychol 41:506

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Kochanska G, Aksan N (2006) Children’s conscience and self-regulation. J Pers 74:1587–1618

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Eisenberg-Berg N, Mussen P (1978) Empathy and moral development in adolescence. Dev Psychol 14:185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Van Noorden THJ, Haselager GJT, Cillessen AHN, Bukowski WM (2015) Empathy and involvement in bullying in children and adolescents: a systematic review. J Youth Adolesc 44:637–657

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Mariano M, Pino MC, Peretti S et al (2017) Understanding criminal behavior: empathic impairment in criminal offenders. Soc Neurosci 12:379–385

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Harmsen IE (2019) Empathy in autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 49:3939–3955

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Dadds MR, Hawes DJ, Frost ADJ et al (2009) Learning to talk the talk: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy across childhood. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02058.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Soderstrom H (2003) Psychopathy as a disorder of empathy. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 12:249

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Maoz H, Gvirts HZ, Sheffer M, Bloch Y (2019) Theory of mind and empathy in children with ADHD. J Atten Disord 23:1331–1338

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Fantozzi P, Sesso G, Muratori P et al (2021) Biological bases of empathy and social cognition in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a focus on treatment with psychostimulants. Brain Sci 11:1399

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Kerr-Gaffney J, Harrison A, Tchanturia K (2019) Cognitive and affective empathy in eating disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Psychiatry 10:102

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Sesso G, Brancati GE, Fantozzi P et al (2021) Measures of empathy in children and adolescents: a systematic review of questionnaires. World J Psychiatry 11:876

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Jolliffe D, Farrington DP (2006) Development and validation of the basic empathy scale. J Adolesc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.08.010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Sánchez-Pérez N, Fuentes LJ, Jolliffe D, González-Salinas C (2014) Assessing children’s empathy through a Spanish adaptation of the basic empathy scale: parent’s and child’s report forms. Front Psychol 5:1438

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  30. Rieffe C, Ketelaar L, Wiefferink CH (2010) Assessing empathy in young children: construction and validation of an empathy questionnaire (EmQue). Pers Individ Dif. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.046

  31. Dadds MR, Hunter K, Hawes DJ et al (2008) A measure of cognitive and affective empathy in children using parent ratings. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 39:111–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0075-4

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Bryant BK (1982) An index of empathy for children and adolescents. Child Dev 53:413. https://doi.org/10.2307/1128984

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Kimonis ER, Fanti KA, Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous X et al (2016) Can callous-unemotional traits be reliably measured in preschoolers? J Abnorm Child Psychol 44:625–638. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0075-y

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Murphy BA (2019) The Griffith empathy measure does not validly distinguish between cognitive and affective empathy in children. Aust Psychol 54:159–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Murphy BA (2019) The Griffith empathy measure needs to be revised with attention to item coding direction: a reply to Dadds (2018). Aust Psychol 54:167–170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Dawel A, Palermo R, O’Kearney R, McKone E (2015) Children can discriminate the authenticity of happy but not sad or fearful facial expressions, and use an immature intensity-only strategy. Front Psychol 6:462

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Lui JHL, Barry CT, Sacco DF (2016) Callous-unemotional traits and empathy deficits: mediating effects of affective perspective-taking and facial emotion recognition. Cogn Emot 30:1049–1062. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1047327

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Pasalich DS, Dadds MR, Hawes DJ (2014) Cognitive and affective empathy in children with conduct problems: additive and interactive effects of callous-unemotional traits and autism spectrum disorders symptoms. Psychiatry Res 219:625–630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.06.025

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Kimonis ER, Fanti KA, Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous X et al (2016) Can callous-unemotional traits be reliably measured in preschoolers? J Abnorm Child Psychol 44:625–638

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Connelly BS, Ones DS (2010) An other perspective on personality: meta-analytic integration of observers’ accuracy and predictive validity. Psychol Bull 136:1092

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Hoffman ML (2001) Empathy and moral development: implications for caring and justice. Cambridge University Press

  42. Zahn-Waxler C, Radke-Yarrow M (1990) The origins of empathic concern. Motiv Emot 14:107–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Vaish A, Carpenter M, Tomasello M (2009) Sympathy through affective perspective taking and its relation to prosocial behavior in toddlers. Dev Psychol 45:534

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Mares M-L, Woodard E (2005) Positive effects of television on children’s social interactions: a meta-analysis. Media Psychol 7:301–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Chan AB, Fleming GE, Kaouar S, Kimonis ER (2023) The measure of empathy in early childhood: testing the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of scores in early childhood. Psychol Assess 35:791

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Moul C, Hawes DJ, Dadds MR (2018) Mapping the developmental pathways of child conduct problems through the neurobiology of empathy. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 91:34–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.03.016

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Waller R, Wagner NJ, Barstead MG et al (2020) A meta-analysis of the associations between callous-unemotional traits and empathy, prosociality, and guilt. Clin Psychol Rev 75:101809

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. American Psychiatric Association

  49. Frick PJ, Ray JV, Thornton LC, Kahn RE (2014) Annual research review: a developmental psychopathology approach to understanding callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents with serious conduct problems. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 55:532–548. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Frick PJ, Myers TD (2018) Conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits. Wiley-Blackwell

  51. Salekin RT, Neumann CS, Leistico AR, Zalot Aa (2004) Psychopathy in youth and intelligence: an investigation of Cleckley’s hypothesis. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 33:731–742. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15374424jccp3304_8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Dodge KA, Pettit GS (2003) A biopsychosocial model of the development of chronic conduct problems in adolescence. Dev Psychol 39:349–371

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  53. Lansford JE, Malone PS, Dodge KA et al (2010) Developmental cascades of peer rejection, social information processing biases, and aggression during middle childhood. Dev Psychopathol 22:593–602

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  54. Tonacci A, Billeci L, Calderoni S et al (2019) Sympathetic arousal in children with oppositional defiant disorder and its relation to emotional dysregulation. J Affect Disord 257:207–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.07.046

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Northam JC, Dadds MR (2020) Is callous always Cold? A critical review of the literature on emotion and the development of callous–unemotional traits in children. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-019-00309-w

  56. Northam JC, Dar H, Hawes DJ et al (2023) More than a feeling? An expanded investigation of emotional responsiveness in young children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. Dev Psychopathol 35:494–508

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Lockwood PL, Sebastian CL, McCrory EJ et al (2013) Association of callous traits with reduced neural response to others’ pain in children with conduct problems. Curr Biol 23:901–905

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  58. Schwenck C, Mergenthaler J, Keller K et al (2012) Empathy in children with autism and conduct disorder: group-specific profiles and developmental aspects. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 53:651–659. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02499.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous X, Warden D (2008) Physiologically-indexed and self-perceived affective empathy in conduct-disordered children high and low on callous-unemotional traits. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 39:503–517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-008-0104-y

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Blair RJR (2005) Responding to the emotions of others: dissociating forms of empathy through the study of typical and psychiatric populations. Conscious Cogn 14:698–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2005.06.004

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Jones AP, Happé FGE, Gilbert F et al (2010) Feeling, caring, knowing: different types of empathy deficit in boys with psychopathic tendencies and autism spectrum disorder. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 51:1188–1197. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02280.x

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  62. Woodworth M, Waschbusch D (2008) Emotional processing in children with conduct problems and callous/ unemotional traits. Child Care Health Dev 34:234–244. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2214.2007.00792.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Dadds MR, Perry Y, Hawes DJ et al (2006) Attention to the eyes and fear-recognition deficits in child psychopathy. Br J Psychiatry 189:280–281. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.105.018150

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Levantini V, Muratori P, Calderoni S et al (2022) Psychopathic traits and emotion processing in a clinical sample of children with disruptive behavior disorder. Curr Psychol 2022 1:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12144-022-03138-3

  65. Billeci L, Muratori P, Calderoni S et al (2019) Emotional processing deficits in Italian children with disruptive behavior disorder: the role of callous unemotional traits. Behav Res Ther 113:32–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2018.12.011

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Albiero P, Matricardi G, Speltri D, Toso D (2009) The assessment of empathy in adolescence: a contribution to the Italian validation of the basic empathy scale. J Adolesc 32:393–408. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2008.01.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Goodman R (1997) The strengths and difficulties questionnaire: a research note. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 38:581–586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Tobia V, Gabriele MA, Marzocchi GM (2013) The Italian version of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ)-teacher: psychometric properties. J Psychoeduc Assess 31:493–505. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282912473456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Goodman A, Lamping DL, Ploubidis GB (2010) When to use broader internalising and externalising subscales instead of the hypothesised five subscales on the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ): data from British parents, teachers and children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 2010 388 38:1179–1191. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10802-010-9434-X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. Frick P, Hare R (2001) Antisocial process screening device. APSD

  71. Kline RB (2015) Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford publications

  72. Byrne BM (2013) Structural equation modeling with Mplus: basic concepts, applications, and programming. Routledge

  73. Hu LT, Bentler PM (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equ Model 6:1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Bentler PM (1990) Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychol Bull 107:238–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  75. Clark LA, Watson D (1995) Constructing validity: basic issues in objective scale development. Psychol Assess 7:309–319. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.7.3.309

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Cheung GW, Rensvold RB (2009) Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. 9:233–255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5

  77. Meade AW, Johnson EC, Braddy PW (2008) Power and sensitivity of alternative fit indices in tests of measurement invariance. J Appl Psychol 93:568–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.568

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  78. Jöreskog KG, Sörbom D (1993) LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language. Scientific software international

  79. Bentler PM, Chou C-P (1987) Practical issues in structural modeling. Sociol Methods Res 16:78–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  80. Goodboy AK, Martin MM (2020) Omega over alpha for reliability estimation of unidimensional communication measures. Ann Int Commun Assoc 44:422–439

    Google Scholar 

  81. Cooper S, Hobson CW, van Goozen SHM (2020) Facial emotion recognition in children with externalising behaviours: a systematic review. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 25:1068–1085

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  82. Eisenberg N, Spinrad T, Sadovsky A (2006) Empathy-related responding in children. In: Handbook of moral development. Psychology Press, pp 535–568

  83. Frick PJ, White SF (2008) Research review: the importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behavior. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 49:359–375. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01862.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  84. Williams A, O’Driscoll K, Moore C (2014) The influence of empathic concern on prosocial behavior in children. Front Psychol 5:425

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  85. Lovett BJ, Sheffield RA (2007) Affective empathy deficits in aggressive children and adolescents: a critical review. Clin Psychol Rev 27:1–13

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  86. Ritchie MB, Neufeld RWJ, Yoon M et al (2022) Predicting youth aggression with empathy and callous unemotional traits: a Meta-analytic review. Clin Psychol Rev 102186

  87. Vachon DD, Lynam DR, Johnson JA (2014) The (non) relation between empathy and aggression: surprising results from a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 140:751

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  88. Frick PJ, Kemp EC (2021) Conduct disorders and empathy development. Annu Rev Clin Psychol 17:391–416

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  89. Berluti K, Ploe ML, Marsh AA (2023) Emotion processing in youths with conduct problems: an fMRI meta-analysis. Transl Psychiatry 13:105

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  90. Marsh AA, Finger EC, Mitchell DGV et al (2008) Reduced amygdala response to fearful expressions in children and adolescents with callous-unemotional traits and disruptive behavior disorders. Am J Psychiatry 165:712–720

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  91. Milledge SV, Cortese S, Thompson M et al (2019) Peer relationships and prosocial behaviour differences across disruptive behaviours. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 28:781–793. https://doi.org/10.1007/S00787-018-1249-2/TABLES/7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  92. Ciucci E, Kimonis E, Frick PJ et al (2018) Attentional orienting to emotional faces moderates the association between callous-unemotional traits and peer-nominated aggression in young adolescent school children. J Abnorm Child Psychol 46:1011–1019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0357-7

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  93. Demetriou CA, Fanti KA (2021) Are children high on callous-unemotional traits emotionally blind? Testing eye-gaze differences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01152-3. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev

  94. Georgiou G, Demetriou CA, Fanti KA (2019) Distinct empathy profiles in callous unemotional and autistic traits: investigating unique and interactive associations with affective and cognitive empathy. J Abnorm Child Psychol 47:1863–1873

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  95. Costello AB, Osborne J (2019) Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Pract Assess Res Eval 10:7

    Google Scholar 

  96. Eisenberg N, Strayer J (1990) Empathy and its development. CUP Archive

  97. Cardinale EM, Marsh AA (2020) The reliability and validity of the inventory of callous unemotional traits: a meta-analytic review. Assessment 27:57–71

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  98. Perlstein S, Fair M, Hong E, Waller R (2023) Treatment of childhood disruptive behavior disorders and callous-unemotional traits: a systematic review and two multilevel meta‐analyses. J Child Psychol Psychiatry

  99. Dadds MR, Cauchi AJ, Wimalaweera S et al (2012) Outcomes, moderators, and mediators of empathic-emotion recognition training for complex conduct problems in childhood. Psychiatry Res 199:201–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2012.04.033

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  100. Dadds MR, English T, Wimalaweera S et al (2019) Can reciprocated parent–child eye gaze and emotional engagement enhance treatment for children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits: a proof-of-concept trial. J Child Psychol Psychiatry Allied Discip 60:676–685. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  101. Fleming GE, Neo B, Briggs NE et al (2022) Parent training adapted to the needs of children with callous–unemotional traits: a randomized controlled trial. Behav Ther 53:1265–1281. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BETH.2022.07.001

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  102. Kimonis ER, Fleming G, Briggs N et al (2019) Parent-child interaction therapy adapted for preschoolers with callous-unemotional traits: an open trial pilot study. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 48:S347–S361

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  103. Datyner A, Kimonis ER, Hunt E, Armstrong K (2016) Using a novel emotional skills module to enhance empathic responding for a child with conduct disorder with limited prosocial emotions. Clin Case Stud 15:35–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534650115588978

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris: Ricerca Corrente, RC 2763771, 2.21_Tipizzazione genetico-clinica dei disturbi del comportamento in età evolutiva: implicazioni cliniche e di trattamento and the ‘5 × 1000’ voluntary contributions, Italian Ministry of Health).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, IRCCS Stella Maris, Pisa, Italy

    Valentina Levantini, Pietro Muratori, Virginia Grilli, Gabriele Masi & Annarita Milone

  2. Accademia di Neuropsicologia dello Sviluppo (A.N.Svi), Reggio Emilia, Italy

    Iacopo Bertacchi

  3. Team Coping Power Scuola, Roma, Italy

    Alessandra Marzano

  4. Parent-Child Research Clinic, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Eva R. Kimonis

Authors
  1. Valentina Levantini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pietro Muratori
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Iacopo Bertacchi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Virginia Grilli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Alessandra Marzano
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gabriele Masi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Annarita Milone
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Eva R. Kimonis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

V.L., P.M. and E.K. wrote the main manuscript text. I.B. and A.M. collected data. V.L. did formal analysis. V.G. developed methodology of the study and collaborated in the data collection. P.M., G.M. and A.M. conceptualised the study and funded the study. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pietro Muratori.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Istituto Comprensivo (PTOF, prot. 10, 2021).

Consent to Participate

Participants’ parents were required to sign a written informed consent form.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Material 1

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Levantini, V., Muratori, P., Bertacchi, I. et al. The “Measure of Empathy in Early Childhood”: Psychometric Properties and Associations with Externalizing Problems and Callous Unemotional Traits. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01673-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-024-01673-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation