Validation of the Basic Empathy Scale in a Sample of Young Adults in Kosovo: A Cross-Sectional Study

This cross-sectional study examines the psychometric properties of the Albanian version of the Basic Empathy Scale in Kosovo in a sample of 476 students (61.6% female; 38.4% male) aged 18 to 25 years (M = 20.25; SD = 1.61). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the 20 items in R with Lavaan. The best-fitting two-factor model for the data contained 11 items for affective empathy and nine items for cognitive empathy; furthermore, it had the same factor structure as the original model. Internal consistency reliabilities were considered acceptable for cognitive (α =.68) and affective (α =.73) empathy. The scales correlated positively and significantly with each other (r =.45, p <.01) and gave good Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients. The concurrent validity of the Basic Empathy Scale was confirmed, with cognitive and affective empathy scales significantly and inversely correlated with the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits. © 2022, Associação Brasileira de Psicologia.