Is empathy essential? A cross-national examination of the WB-Pro short form

The Wellbeing Profile (WB-Pro) is a multidimensional instrument designed to address conceptual and psychometric limitations in existing well-being measures. A 15-item short form was developed employing a machine learning algorithm to offer practical utility, however emerging evidence suggests limitations in the validity of empathy within the WB-Pro. This study examined the performance of the empathy item in the 15-item WB-Pro version across samples from Australia ( n = 298), the UK ( n = 309), and the USA ( n = 312). Factor analysis revealed weak and inconsistent support for a two-factor structure, with the empathy item failing to load meaningfully across all samples. Removal of the empathy item did not alter the factor structure or model fit, and invariance testing confirmed the stability of the revised model across nations. Alternative empathy items from the full WB-Pro and established personality inventories were tested, but none demonstrated consistent, strong associations with general well-being factor. These findings suggest that empathy may not be a reliable indicator of general well-being. The results support the refinement of the WB-Pro through the exclusion or replacement of the empathy item and underscore the importance of replication in the development of well-being measures.