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Abstract Background Violent behaviors in romantic relationships among adolescents and young people are pressing social matter as they have an effect on both victims and aggressors. Moreover, in the last decades, new forms of harassment, control, and abuse through social networks and mobile phones have arisen. Therefore, now forms of online and offline dating violence coexist. Objectives The aim was to analyze the prevalence rates by sex and age and the co-occurrence of online and offline dating violence. Moreover, the roles of online and offline dating violence aggressors and victims for their self-esteem, hostility, general psychological state, and emotional intelligence were investigated. Method Three hundred forty-one university students from the Basque Country, Spain, participated in the study. They completed six validated instruments related to the mentioned variables. Results Results highlight the high prevalence of online and offline dating violence in the sample and the co-occurrence of both types. No gender nor sex differences were found for online and offline dating violence perpetration and victimization. The correlation between online and offline dating violence was confirmed, and the reciprocity of violence is greater for offline violence. In relation to the role, both types of victims (online and offline) showed higher levels of hostility and psychological symptomatology than non-victims, but differences in self-esteem and emotional regulation were found in these modalities. Online and offline perpetrators shared hostility and some psychological symptoms as characteristics compared to non-victims, but differed in other symptoms and emotional intelligence. Conclusion There is a continuum between offline and online victimization perpetration albeit differences in the characteristics such as self-esteem, emotional intelligence, and general functioning exist.
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Resumen El objetivo de este estudio consistió en adaptar el cuestionario autoaplicado Empathy Quotient en población española. El cuestionario se aplicó a 471 estudiantes universitarios. Los análisis psicométricos mostraron un buen ajuste para una estructura factorial de 23 ítems en tres dimensiones, similar a la propuesta por otros autores. Además se encontraron valores adecuados de consistencia interna, así como correlaciones con otras medidas de empatía y de desempeño emocional. Se concluye que el EQ es una medida fiable y válida para evaluar empatía en muestras no clínicas, aunque se recomienda realizar una validación con una muestra más grande y heterogénea e incluir alguna medida de fiabilidad test-retest y de ejecución.
Abstract The aim of the study consisted of adapting the self-report questionnaire Empathy Quotient to the Spanish population. A sample of 471 university students answered the questionnaire. The psychometric analysis showed a good fit for 23-ítem three factor model, similar to those proposed by other authors. Furthermore, the internal consistency was adequated and correlations with other empathy and emotional measures were found. In conclusion, EQ is a reliable and valid measure to evaluate empathy in non clinical samples, but a validation with a larger and more heterogeneous sample is recommended, together with test-retest and ejecution measures.