Version Of Interpersonal Reactivity Index Research Articles

Longitudinal relationship of empathy and social anxiety among adolescents: The mediation roles of psychological inflexibility and rejection sensitivity

IntroductionThe purpose of study was to explore the roles of psychological inflexibility and rejection sensitivity in the relationship between (cognitive and affective) empathy and social anxiety among adolescents. MethodsA two-wave longitudinal design was adopted in the present study. A total of 2481 participants (41.60 % male; Mage = 16.48) aged from 13 to 21 in 2021 completed the Chinese Version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-C), Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ), Chinese version of the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II), Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y8), Child Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (CRSQ), and Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescent (SAS-A) at baseline assessment (T1), and completed the SAS-A again three months later (T2). Results(1) Results showed, personal distress at T1 could significantly and positively predict social anxiety at T2. (2) Mediation analyses results demonstrated that adolescents' experience avoidance and rejection sensitivity at T1 were significant mediators between cognitive empathy at T1 and social anxiety at T2, but with the opposite effect. As for affective empathy, rejection sensitivity at T1 significantly mediated the relationship between adolescents' empathic concern at T1 and social anxiety at T2. Furthermore, experience avoidance and rejection sensitivity at T1 significantly mediated the association between personal distress at T1 and social anxiety at T2. ConclusionsCognitive and affective empathy had different roles in contributing to adolescents' social anxiety. The findings in the current study can also provide empirical support for targeting adolescents' social anxiety by reducing personal distress directly and decreasing experiential avoidance and rejection sensitivity indirectly.

Do empathy and oxytocin predict responsiveness to a crying infant simulator in expecting and non-expecting couples? A multilevel study

ABSTRACT Infant crying is a strong emotional stimulus that elicits caregiving responses in adults. Here we examine the role of empathy (measured with the Polish version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and salivary oxytocin in modulating sensitive responsiveness to a crying infant simulator in two groups of heterosexual couples: 111 expecting or 110 not expecting a baby. Sensitive responsiveness was observed during a standardized procedure using the Ainsworth Sensitivity Scale while participants took care of the infant simulator, both individually and as a couple. Other-oriented empathy predicted elevated levels of individual but not couple sensitive responsiveness. More OT reactivity to crying predicted less responsiveness in non-expecting couples, which might be explained by their stronger focus on task performance. This study uniquely combined hormonal, observational and self-report measures in couples, and showed that personality and hormonal correlates of sensitive responsiveness might be studied before the child’s birth with the use of infant simulators.

Validation of a Modified Version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Medical Students Using Rasch Analysis

Construct: Empathy has been accepted to interweave both cognitive aspects (the ability to put oneself in another person’s place), and affective (or emotional) aspects, indicating an emotional reaction or response to another person’s emotional state. Literature supports the positive influences of empathy on doctor-patient relationship, patient satisfaction, and positive clinical outcomes. Background: Many studies have dealt with the development of empathy measurement tools for physicians and medical students. A frequently used empathy measuring instrument for medical students is the “Interpersonal Reactivity Index” (IRI) which was designed to measure the multi-dimensional aspects of empathy in the general adult population. Most previous literature which validated IRI for medical students has used factor analysis, whilst studies applying Rasch models have been limited. Our study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of a modified version of IRI for medical students using Rasch analysis. Approach: Medical students (1,293) from 15 medical schools in South Korea participated in an online questionnaire consisting of 28 items of the Korean translated version of IRI. We applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using polychoric correlation matrix to determine the optimal number of factors followed by Rasch analysis and McDonald’s Omega calculation. Findings: The adapted IRI-MS (IRI for medical students) consisted of 17 items in four dimensions: empathic concern (5), fictitious situation (4), perspective taking (4), and personal distress (4). The overall fit of IRI-MS revealed an acceptable goodness-of-fit for all 17 items and a positive point measure correlation for all items. Reliability indices from the Rasch modeling and McDonald’s Omega values of all four dimensions were satisfactory for research. We found the Wright-Andrich maps and category probability curves of the IRI’s four dimensions to be less than optimal in measuring empathy levels with adequate precision. Conclusions: Rasch analysis of IRI-MS fell short from being able to prove satisfactory validity in measuring the multidimensional nature of empathy in medical students. However, our study applying Rasch analysis may serve as groundwork for future studies, to further develop from the shortcomings of our findings. Supplemental data for this article are available online at at www.tandfonline.com/htlm .

The Validation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Chinese Teachers From Primary and Middle Schools

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (C-IRI) were examined in a sample of 930 teachers in China. The subscales of the C-IRI demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a stable four-factor structure across three independent samples. The construct validity was also demonstrated; the scores of teachers on perspective taking and empathic concern were significantly higher than those of web users and prisoners. The convergent and discriminant validity of the C-IRI subscales were evaluated using measures of social functioning in the domains of self-esteem, social anxiety, shyness, agreeableness, and forgiveness.