Cultural Sensitivity of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index in Empathy Measure

Abstract

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is one of the commonly used self-report scales to measure empathy. Davis (1980) reported a four-factor structure in empathy in developing this scale, including empathic concern, perspective taking, personal distress, and fantasy. Empirical studies among different populations with Western culture provided solid and stable support to this four-component scale, such as adults in France and America, college students in Belgium and Chile, and adolescents in Dutch. Although IRI is a popular instrument for measuring parental empathy in most studies, exploring its factor structure among parents as a sample is quite rare. Moreover, the number of factors in its structure is not stable among the Chinese population. For example, it reported a hierarchical four-factor model among both general population and clinical patients with schizophrenia, but a bi-factor model among Chinese students in Mainland China. On the other hand, a three-factor model, where a new component, namely empathy scale, is a combination of both emotional and cognitive aspects of empathy, was reported among Chinese students in Hong Kong. Further investigation of its factor structure by developing a Chinese version with Chinese parents as samples to fill up this research gap is deemed necessary.