The assessment of susceptibility to emotional contagion: A contribution to the Italian adaptation of the “Emotional Contagion Scale”

The Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS; Doherty, 1997) is a self-report instrument assessing susceptibility to emotional contagion. The study was aimed at examining its dimensionality, reliability, and validity in the Italian context. It was completed by 541 young adults (45% men) in Study 1 and 649 young adults (40% men) in Study 2. The results of a series of confirmatory factor analyses showed that a bi-factor model, with one general factor and four specific factors was supported. The general and specific factors resulted differently related to self-other differentiation, empathy, emotional fragility, masculinity, and femininity. Notwithstanding, the results posited some questions about the E…