The psychometric properties of the compassionate love scale and the validation of the English and German 7-item compassion for others scale (COS-7)

Abstract

An increasing body of scientific research on the nature, correlates, and effects of compassion has accrued over recent years. Expert agreement has not yet been reached on the conceptualisation of compassion for others, and existing self-report measures of compassion for others have often lacked psychometric quality and content validity. Recent publications of longer compassion measures represent significant strides towards ameliorating these issues. However, there is a need for psychometrically sound short scales for measuring compassion in time-constrained research settings. To meet this need, one can assess the psychometric qualities of existing scales in order to develop robust short adaptations of such scales. Study 1 (N = 501) empirically assessed the psychometric properties of the widely cited Compassionate Love Scale (CLS) to validate a new short scale of compassion for others (strangers) comprised of items from the CLS – the 7-item Compassion for Others Scale (COS-7). Study 2 (N = 332) addressed the absence of a German measure of compassion for others by validating a German version of the COS-7. The CLS did not display adequate model fit. Both the English and German versions of the COS-7 demonstrated adequate model fit, factor loadings, internal consistency, interpretability, convergent/divergent validity, and no floor/ceiling effects. Findings provide support for the English and German versions of the COS-7 as adequate short scales for measuring compassion for others. The German COS-7 is the first German measure of compassion for others published to date.