Psychometric validity of the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scale for Adolescents: a Swedish version

FIGURE 1.

Standardized Factor Loadings for the Swedish CEASY-SE (N = 316)

Item number and meaning of item	Compassion for others: Engagement	Compassion for others: Action	Compassion from others: Engagement*	Compassion from others: Action*	Self-compassion: Engagement	Self-compassion: Action
1. Care for wellbeing	.88		.70		.84
2. Attention/sensitive to suffering	.79		.73		.57
5. Distress tolerance	.67		.74		.36
6. Empathy	.69		.70		.70
8. Being accepting and non-judgmental	.71		.81		.68
1. Directing attention to what is helpful		.91		.85		.90
2. Thinking and reasoning – what is helpful		.89		.86		.85
4. Taking helpful actions		.81		.90		.89
5. Creating inner feelings of support and kindness		.86		.87		.88

Descriptive statistics for total sample, boys and girls in the Engagement and Action subscales of Compassion for others, Compassion from others and Self-compassion

		Total sampleN = 316				BoysN = 103				GirlsN = 213
Items		M	SD	ritc	α-i	M	SD	ritc	α-i	M	SD	ritc	α-i
Engagement		47.44	8.53			44.05	9.56			49.08	7.47
Compassion for others: When others are distressed or upset by things…
Compassion from others: When I’m distressed or upset by things		37.80	10.63			37.21	9.53			38.08	11.14
Self-compassion: When I’m distressed or upset by things		38.99	9.68			39.61	10.00			38.70	9.53
1a	I want to help others to feel better	8.88	1.78	0.67	0.76	8.17	2.19	0.69	0.77	9.23	1.43	0.60	0.73
1B	others want to help me to feel better	6.97	2.35	0.58	0.82	6.50	2.34	0.49	0.78	7.19	2.33	0.62	0.84
1C	I want to help myself to feel better	6.65	2.72	0.49	0.66	7.02	2.74	0.50	0.69	6.47	2.70	0.49	0.68
2A	I notice the feelings of others	8.35	1.63	0.66	0.77	7.81	1.83	0.73	0.77	8.61	1.46	0.57	0.74
2B	others notice my feelings	5.88	2.61	0.62	0.81	5.94	2.51	0.58	0.76	5.85	2.66	0.64	0.83
2c	I notice my own feelings	6.97	2.42	0.52	0.65	7.12	2.36	0.55	0.68	6.90	2.45	0.50	0.68
4a	I feel moved	6.56	2.45	0.44	0.82	5.55	2.44	0.33	0.85	7.05	2.31	0.45	0.78
4b	others feel moved	5.31	2.25	0.53	0.83	5.07	2.09	0.40	0.80	5.42	2.32	0.58	0.84
4c	I feel moved	6.14	2.40	0.22	0.74	4.94	2.47	0.31	0.74	6.72	2.14	0.28	0.74
5a	I can stand their different types of feelings	7.64	2.15	0.58	0.78	7.19	2.38	0.59	0.79	7.86	2.00	0.55	0.74
5b	others can stand different types of my feelings	6.70	2.24	0.66	0.80	6.63	2.04	0.60	0.75	6.74	2.34	0.68	0.82
5c	I can stand my own different types of feelings	6.61	2.51	0.44	0.68	6.46	2.74	0.51	0.68	6.69	2.39	0.41	0.71
6a	can understand their feelings	7.55	1.95	0.60	0.77	7.33	2.17	0.62	0.79	7.66	1.83	0.60	0.73
6b	others can understand my feelings	5.79	2.42	0.63	0.81	6.05	2.30	0.61	0.75	5.67	2.47	0.65	0.83
6c	I can understand my feelings	6.17	2.47	0.58	0.64	6.73	2.46	0.60	0.66	5.90	2.43	0.57	0.66
8a	I accept their feelings	8.45	1.83	0.56	0.78	8.00	2.08	0.64	0.78	8.67	1.65	0.47	0.76
8b	others accept my feelings	7.14	2.42	0.67	0.80	7.01	2.24	0.62	0.75	7.20	2.50	0.69	0.82
8c	I accept my feelings	6.45	2.55	0.45	0.68	7.35	2.46	0.37	0.73	6.02	2.48	0.52	0.67
Action		32.47	6.85			29.75	7.58			33.79	6.06
Compassion for others: When others are distressed or upset by things…
Compassion from others: When I’m distressed or upset by things…		27.54	8.08			26.24	8.09			28.16	8.02
Self-compassion: When I’m distressed or upset by things…		23.37	9.11			25.05	8.77			22.56	9.18
1a	I focus my attention on things that can help them	8.15	1.92	0.83	0.85	7.50	2.12	0.86	0.85	8.46	1.74	0.78	0.83
1b	others focus their attention on things that can help me	6.67	2.31	0.85	0.89	6.38	2.34	0.85	0.90	6.81	2.29	0.85	0.88
1c	I focus my attention on things that can help me	5.95	2.59	0.84	0.89	6.36	2.39	0.83	0.89	5.75	2.67	0.84	0.89
2a	I find ways to help them handle their feelings	7.99	2.09	0.80	0.86	7.31	2.33	0.78	0.88	8.31	1.88	0.80	0.83
2b	others will find ways to help me handle my feelings	6.44	2.41	0.85	0.89	6.17	2.34	0.89	0.89	6.57	2.44	0.84	0.89
2c	I find ways to handle my feelings	5.98	2.60	0.79	0.91	6.34	2.56	0.77	0.91	5.80	2.61	0.79	0.90
4a	I do things that will help them to feel better	7.63	1.93	0.74	0.88	7.06	2.00	0.77	0.88	7.90	1.83	0.69	0.87
4b	others do things that will help me to feel better	6.72	2.16	0.82	0.90	6.41	2.12	0.83	0.91	6.86	2.16	0.81	0.89
4c	I do things that will help me to feel better.	6.10	2.43	0.83	0.89	6.41	2.37	0.84	0.88	5.95	2.45	0.83	0.89
5a	I am kind and supportive to them	8.70	1.88	0.74	0.88	7.87	2.15	0.72	0.90	9.11	1.59	0.71	0.86
5b	others are kind and supportive to me	7.71	2.08	0.77	0.92	7.27	2.12	0.76	0.93	7.92	2.03	0.77	0.91
5c	I am kind and supportive to myself	5.35	2.52	0.80	0.90	5.94	2.47	0.81	0.90	5.07	2.50	0.80	0.90
Compassion for others total scale		79.91	14.27			73.80	15.65			82.87	12.57
Compassion from others total scale		65.33	17.40			63.45	16.31			66.24	17.87
Self-compassion total scale		62.37	16.82			64.66	16.63			61.26	16.84

Intercorrelations between CEASY-SE Subscales using Spearman’s Rho

Measure	Self-compassion Action	Compassion for others Engagement	Compassion for others Action	Compassion from others Engagement	Compassion from others Action
Self-compassion Engagement	.642**	.242**	.182**	.456**	.315**
Self-compassion Action	1.000	.122*	.164**	.437**	.387**
Compassion for others Engagement		1.000	.699**	.350**	.367**
Compassion for others Action			1.000	.364**	.497**
Compassion from others Engagement				1.000	.714**
Compassion from others Action					1.000

Spearman’s correlations between CEASY-SE subscales and validity measures

Measure	SCS positive scale	WHO-5	RCADS Anx	BYI-D	BYI-A	SDQ impact	PROMIS pain
Compassion for others total scale	.042	.050	-.012	-.075	-.128*	.002	-.094
Compassion from others total scale	.342**	.293**	-.265**	-.375**	-.371**	-.188*	-.175
Self-compassion total scale	.565**	.491**	-.462**	-.511**	-.414**	-.259**	-.251

Descriptive statistics of validity measures

	Total sample N = 316
Scales	M	SD
Self-Compassion Scale positive scale	35.88	9.65
WHO-5 Well-being Index total scale	55.67	21.54
Beck Youth Inventories Depression subscale	17.36	10.31
Beck Youth Inventories Anger subscale	10.74	8,64
The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – total Anxiety scale	29.46	17.78
Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire – Functioning Composite subscale	1.28	1.59
Patient Reported Outcome Measurements Information System - item bank Pain	29.52	13.59

Internal Consistency and Mann-Whitney U test between Boys and Girls

	Boys (n = 103 )			Girls (n = 213 )			Total			Mann-Whitney U
	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	M	SD	α	U	p	ES r
Compassion for others Engagement	38.50	8.46	.91	42.04	6.13	.89	40.88	7.16	.82	8308.50	0.000*	-0.20
Compassion for others Action	29.75	7.58	.90	33.79	6.06	.88	32.47	6.85	.90	7303.50	0.000*	-0.27
Total	68.25	14.74	.80	75.83	11.41	.84	73.36	13.06	.91	7525.00	0.000*	-0.25
Compassion from others Engagement	32.14	8.51	.90	32.66	9.63	.92	32.49	9.27	.83	10638.00	0.663	-0.02
Compassion from others Action	26.24	8.09	.93	28.16	8.02	.92	25.54	8.08	.92	9408.00	0.040	-0.12
Total	58.38	15.12	.90	60.82	16.46	.92	60.02	16.05	.91	9933.50	0.173	-0.08
Self-compassion Engagement	34.67	8,96	.74	31.98	8.70	.74	32.85	8.86	.74	8864.00	0.006*	-0.16
Self-compassion Action	25.05	8.77	.92	22.56	9.18	.92	23.37	9.11	.92	9177.50	0.018	-0.13
Total	59.72	15.90	.87	54.54	16.32	.88	56.23	16.34	.88	8817.50	0.005**	-0.16