In this sample are fairly representative of the Australian population in

In this sample are fairly LBH589 representative of the Australian population in terms of ethnicity, employment, and religious beliefs (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). These schools had an average score of socioeconomic index of 1026 (SD = 43), which is comparable to the average of 1000 provided by the Australian government for all schools across Australia (http://www.bit.ly/1mJK7KC). Further details about the sample are reported elsewhere (Parker et al., 2014; Marshall et al., 2015). For the purposes of this paper, we focus on the following measurements: Empathy was measured using the 20-item Basic Empathy Scale that has been well-validated in adolescents and has been consistently shown to have a two-factor structure, with nine items measuring cognitive empathy and 11 measuring affective empathy (Jolliffe and Farrington, 2006; Albiero et al., 2009). An example item of cognitive empathy is, “I canFrontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.orgMarch 2015 | Volume 6 | ArticleSahdra et al.Prosocial peersoften understand how people are feeling even before they tell me;” and that of affective empathy is, “I get caught up in other people’s feelings easily.” Participants used a scale ranging from 1 to 5 to indicate the degree to which the items applied to them. The alpha coefficient for cognitive empathy items was 0.69 and that for affective empathy items was 0.73. Nonattachment was assessed using the nine-item Nonattachment Scale or NAS-7 (Elphinstone et al., unpublished manuscript), which is a shorter version of the original 30-item Nonattachment Scale (Sahdra et al., 2010). The measure consists of a six-point Likert scale on which participants rate their agreement with the seven items (as all items in Appendix A). NAS-7 has recently been shown to have excellent psychometric properties in American and Australian adult samples (Elphinstone et al., unpublished manuscript). Higher NAS-7 scores were associated with greater mindfulness, autonomous regulation, self-actualization, well-being, less importance placed on extrinsic aspirations and consumer materialism, and lower levels of depression. The correlations of NAS-7 with the measures of these constructs were comparable to the correlations of the NAS-30 with the same measures. NAS-7 measured nonattachment was also empirically distinct from experiential avoidance. In a separate study using a nationally representative American adults sample, nonattachment, as measured by either the 30-item original measure or the short seven-item measure, was found to be empirically distinct from the non-reactivity R 115777 aspect of mindfulness, further validating the short measure (Sahdra et al., unpublished manuscript). To test the fit of NAS-7 in our adolescent sample, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the seven items using the lavaan package (Rosseel, 2012) in R (R Core Team, 2013). The seven items yielded a good fit, 2 (14)= 155.28, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.03. The omega coefficient of the internal structure of the scale was satisfactory, 0.82. The alpha coefficient was also 0.82. Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg 10-item scale (Rosenberg, 1979) with a binary response style of "yes" or "no" for each item (which has been validated by Marshall et al., 2014, in their study on adolescents). Sample items include: "I feel that I am a person of value ?equal to most other kids my age," and "Generally, I feel satisfied with myself." The alpha coefficient of internal con.In this sample are fairly representative of the Australian population in terms of ethnicity, employment, and religious beliefs (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). These schools had an average score of socioeconomic index of 1026 (SD = 43), which is comparable to the average of 1000 provided by the Australian government for all schools across Australia (http://www.bit.ly/1mJK7KC). Further details about the sample are reported elsewhere (Parker et al., 2014; Marshall et al., 2015). For the purposes of this paper, we focus on the following measurements: Empathy was measured using the 20-item Basic Empathy Scale that has been well-validated in adolescents and has been consistently shown to have a two-factor structure, with nine items measuring cognitive empathy and 11 measuring affective empathy (Jolliffe and Farrington, 2006; Albiero et al., 2009). An example item of cognitive empathy is, "I canFrontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.orgMarch 2015 | Volume 6 | ArticleSahdra et al.Prosocial peersoften understand how people are feeling even before they tell me;" and that of affective empathy is, "I get caught up in other people's feelings easily." Participants used a scale ranging from 1 to 5 to indicate the degree to which the items applied to them. The alpha coefficient for cognitive empathy items was 0.69 and that for affective empathy items was 0.73. Nonattachment was assessed using the nine-item Nonattachment Scale or NAS-7 (Elphinstone et al., unpublished manuscript), which is a shorter version of the original 30-item Nonattachment Scale (Sahdra et al., 2010). The measure consists of a six-point Likert scale on which participants rate their agreement with the seven items (as all items in Appendix A). NAS-7 has recently been shown to have excellent psychometric properties in American and Australian adult samples (Elphinstone et al., unpublished manuscript). Higher NAS-7 scores were associated with greater mindfulness, autonomous regulation, self-actualization, well-being, less importance placed on extrinsic aspirations and consumer materialism, and lower levels of depression. The correlations of NAS-7 with the measures of these constructs were comparable to the correlations of the NAS-30 with the same measures. NAS-7 measured nonattachment was also empirically distinct from experiential avoidance. In a separate study using a nationally representative American adults sample, nonattachment, as measured by either the 30-item original measure or the short seven-item measure, was found to be empirically distinct from the non-reactivity aspect of mindfulness, further validating the short measure (Sahdra et al., unpublished manuscript). To test the fit of NAS-7 in our adolescent sample, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the seven items using the lavaan package (Rosseel, 2012) in R (R Core Team, 2013). The seven items yielded a good fit, 2 (14)= 155.28, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.03. The omega coefficient of the internal structure of the scale was satisfactory, 0.82. The alpha coefficient was also 0.82. Self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg 10-item scale (Rosenberg, 1979) with a binary response style of "yes" or "no" for each item (which has been validated by Marshall et al., 2014, in their study on adolescents). Sample items include: "I feel that I am a person of value ?equal to most other kids my age," and "Generally, I feel satisfied with myself." The alpha coefficient of internal con.