Adaptação da escala de empatia com animais (EEA) para a população Portuguesa

Abstract

Within Psychology, there has been a growing interest in the study of human animal interactions. However, studies addressing human empathy towards non-human animals are still scarce, as are the instruments to measure it, and as of now there was none available for the Portuguese population. We chose the Animal Empathy Scale (AES), for being the most frequently used tool to measure empathy towards non-human animals. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis revealed a twocomponent structure, and the two new subscales were named Emotional Detachment and Animal Empathic Concern. Both the final scale and subscales structures showed a well-adjusted model with good levels of internal consistency. A significant correlation was found with a measure of empathy towards humans (Interpersonal Reactivity Index - IRI), strengthening the validity of this instrument as a useful tool to assess empathy toward animals in the Portuguese population.