Table 2.

Description and ratings of empathy-related dimensions

Dimension	Description	Ratings
Empathic concern	Facial, gestural, and vocal signs of distress and sympathy	1 = none
		2 = sobering of attention, slight concern
		3 = moderate concern, including brow furrowing
		4 = strong facial concern, brow furrowing, reflecting sadness; sympathetic expression
Prosocial behavior	Children’s attempts to comfort or relieve parent’s distress	1 = none
		2 = briefly assisting
		3 = moderate assistance
		4 = repeated or prolonged assistance
Arousal level	Body tension (e.g., stiff posture, discontinuing play, attention to parent)	1 = child ignores parent
		2 = child attends to victim with little body tension, play is uninterrupted
		3 = moderate arousal, play is disrupted
		4 = moderately high arousal, body tension, postural freezing
		5 = high arousal, prolonged body tension, postural freezing
Global empathy	Overall quality of the children’s empathic responding	1 = none
		3 = mild concern, no prosocial action
		5 = moderate concern, some prosocial behavior
		7 = strong expressions of concern and caring behavior

Coding system adapted from Young et al. (1999)