Table 1.
Overview of the psychometric properties of the 40-item Empathy Quotient (EQ) across countries
| Study (sorted on year of appearance) | Country | Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) | Test–retest reliability (Pearson r) | N (males) | Females M (SD) | Males M (SD) | Effect size of sex difference (Cohen’s d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright (2004) | UK | 0.92 | .97b | 197 (71) | 47.2 (10.2) | 41.8 (11.2) | 0.50 |
| Lawrence et al. (2004) | UK | n.r. | .84b | 172 (79) | 49.6 (9.6) | 40.9 (11.9) | 0.80 |
| Muncer and Ling (2006) | UK | 0.85 | n.r. | 362 (156) | 46.3 (9.5) | 37.9 (10.5) | 0.84 |
| Wheelwright et al. (2006) | UK | n.r. | n.r. | 1761 (723) | 48.0 (11.3) | 39.0 (11.6) | 0.79 |
| Wakabayashi et al. (2007) control group | Japan | 0.86 | n.r. | 137 (71) | 36.9 (10.7) | 31.1 (10.7) | 0.54 |
| Wakabayashi et al. (2007) student group | Japan | 0.86 | n.r. | 1250 (616) | 36.1 (10.4) | 30.6 (9.9) | 0.54 |
| Berthoz et al. (2008) | Canada (French) | 0.81 | .93c | 410 (201) | 41.4 (7.7) | 37.7 (10.0) | 0.41 |
| Kim and Lee (2010) | Korea | 0.78 | .84d | 478 (156) | 35.8 (9.2) | 34.7 (10.5) | 0.11 |
| Dimitrijevic et al. (2012) | Serbia | 0.78 | n.r. | 694 (293) | 43.1 (9.0) | 37.1 (9.4) | 0.65 |
| Van Horn et al. (2010) | Sweden | n.r. | n.r. | 299 (114) | 51.1 (9.7) | 43.4 (10.3) | 0.78 |
| Preti et al. (2011) | Italy | 0.79 | .85d | 256 (118) | 45.4 (9.3) | 41.8 (9.4) | 0.39 |
| Manson and Winterbottom (2012) | UK | n.r. | n.r. | 321 (133) | 46.4 (12.6) | 39.0 (11.7) | 0.61 |
| Wright & Skagerberg (2012)a | US | 0.86-0.87 | n.r. | 5186 (n.r.) | 3.1 (0.30) | 2.9 (0.31) | 0.66 |
| Zeyer et al. (2012) | Switzerland | 0.86 | n.r. | 500 (250) | 43.8 (8.3) | 37.7 (10.2) | 0.66 |
| Sucksmith et al. (2013) | UK | n.r. | n.r. | 187 (93) | 48.5 (14.1) | 37.7 (13.5) | 0.78 |
| Vellante et al. (2013) | Italy | 0.80 | n.r. | 200 (92) | 48.3 (8.4) | 41.8 (8.7) | 0.72 |
| Baron-Cohen et al. (2014) | UK | n.r. | n.r. | 3906 (2562) | 48.5 (13.7) | 38.0 (13.7) | 0.76 |
| Present study | Netherlands | 0.89 | .78e | 685 (270) | 49.0 (10.4) | 39.1 (12.0) | 0.88 |
UK United Kingdom, N sample size, M mean, SD standard deviation, n.r. not reported
aThe original variant and a reworded variant (with negatively formulated items being rephrased positively) of the EQ were used, and an alternative scoring method was used (mean of the 1, 2, 3, 4 Likert scale rating)
bTest–retest period not reported
cTest–retest period range 1.5–6 months
dTest–retest period of 1 month
eTest–retest period of 15 months (range 6–20 months)