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Empathy in preschool children: the development of the Southampton test of empathy in preschoolers (STEP)

Empathy in preschool children: the development of the Southampton test of empathy in preschoolers (STEP)
Empathy in preschool children: the development of the Southampton test of empathy in preschoolers (STEP)
In this study, we investigated a new instrument: the Southampton Test of Empathy for Preschoolers (STEP). The test incorporated 8 video vignettes of children in emotional scenarios, assessing a child's ability to understand (STEP-UND) and share (STEP-SHA) in the emotional experience of a story protagonist. Each vignette included 4 emotions (angry, happy, fearful, sad) that reflected emotion judgments based on the protagonist's facial expression, situation, verbal cues, and desire. The STEP was administered to 39 preschool children, and internal reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity were addressed. The results showed good internal consistency. They also highlighted moderate concurrent validity with parent-rated empathy, a measure of facial indices, and construct validity with teacher-rated prosocial behavior.

1040-3590
305-309
Howe, A.
c166c6c8-2850-419b-9f97-75d17bf0886a
Brown, Antony
b4ed9d8d-def6-4124-addd-53f59b8539a8
Pit-ten-Cate, I.
e5dac726-7955-4387-9181-39613e7c6c8b
Hadwin, J.A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee
Howe, A.
c166c6c8-2850-419b-9f97-75d17bf0886a
Brown, Antony
b4ed9d8d-def6-4124-addd-53f59b8539a8
Pit-ten-Cate, I.
e5dac726-7955-4387-9181-39613e7c6c8b
Hadwin, J.A.
a364caf0-405a-42f3-a04c-4864817393ee

Howe, A., Brown, Antony, Pit-ten-Cate, I. and Hadwin, J.A. (2008) Empathy in preschool children: the development of the Southampton test of empathy in preschoolers (STEP). Psychological Assessment, 20 (3), 305-309. (doi:10.1037/a0012763).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In this study, we investigated a new instrument: the Southampton Test of Empathy for Preschoolers (STEP). The test incorporated 8 video vignettes of children in emotional scenarios, assessing a child's ability to understand (STEP-UND) and share (STEP-SHA) in the emotional experience of a story protagonist. Each vignette included 4 emotions (angry, happy, fearful, sad) that reflected emotion judgments based on the protagonist's facial expression, situation, verbal cues, and desire. The STEP was administered to 39 preschool children, and internal reliability, concurrent validity, and construct validity were addressed. The results showed good internal consistency. They also highlighted moderate concurrent validity with parent-rated empathy, a measure of facial indices, and construct validity with teacher-rated prosocial behavior.

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Published date: 5 September 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 54806
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/54806
ISSN: 1040-3590
PURE UUID: 9b7ee22c-a4ce-4366-b170-aa5ee3b91443

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Date deposited: 05 Aug 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 10:50

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Contributors

Author: A. Howe
Author: Antony Brown
Author: I. Pit-ten-Cate
Author: J.A. Hadwin

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