TPC Journal V8, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

348 The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 4 Table 2 AMES Scores by Academic Major Scale Mean ( M ) SD Range Athletic Training Affective Empathy 3.20 0.80 4.00 Cognitive Empathy 3.80 0.62 3.33 Sympathy 4.34 0.55 2.67 Biomedical Sciences Affective Empathy 3.12 0.76 4.00 Cognitive Empathy 3.66 0.59 3.00 Sympathy 4.30 0.61 2.00 Communication Affective Empathy 3.18 0.87 4.00 Cognitive Empathy 3.80 0.62 2.67 Sympathy 4.27 0.69 3.00 Counseling Affective Empathy 3.32 0.60 3.33 Cognitive Empathy 3.83 0.48 4.00 Sympathy 4.32 0.54 2.00 Nursing Affective Empathy 3.37 0.71 3.67 Cognitive Empathy 3.80 0.59 2.67 Sympathy 4.46 0.49 2.00 Psychology Affective Empathy 3.28 0.78 4.00 Cognitive Empathy 3.86 0.59 2.67 Sympathy 4.35 0.65 2.67 Note. N = 868. Results Participants’ scores on the AMES were used to measure participants’ levels of empathy and sympathy. Descriptive statistics were used to compare empathy and sympathy levels between counseling students and emerging college students from other disciplines. CITs recorded the second highest levels of affective empathy ( M = 3.32, SD = .60) and cognitive empathy ( M = 3.83, SD = 0.48), and the fourth highest levels of sympathy ( M = 4.32, SD = 0.54) when compared to students from other disciplines. Nursing students demonstrated the highest levels of affective empathy ( M = 3.37, SD = .71) and sympathy ( M = 4.46, SD = .49), and psychology students recorded the highest levels of cognitive empathy ( M = 3.86, SD = 0.59) when compared to students from other disciplines. The internal consistency values for each empathy and sympathy subscale on the AMES were as follows: Cognitive Empathy (α = 0.86), Affective Empathy (α = 0.75), and Sympathy (α = 0.76).