Psychometric properties of the Turkish version of sistemization quotient in university students and comparision of transsexual individuals wi̇th university students in terms of brain types in the context of empathizing-systemizing theory

Purpose: Empathy is an important social cognitive ability that has emerged to facilitate the adaptation of the individual to social life. It involves describing the feelings and thoughts of others and responding with appropriate emotions. Systemization is the ability to understand and predict inanimate and rule-based universe and found to be high in men, scientists and individuals with aspergel syndrome. While the validity and reliability of Empathy Quotient used to measure empathy skills were verified, there is no validity and reliability study of Systemization Qoutient. The aims of this study are to assess the validity and reliability of Turkish version of "Systemizing Quotient" and compare transsexual individuals with university students in terms of empathy and systemization scores. Method: The sample of this study consisted of 603 university students from three different departments of Dokuz Eylul University as Nursing Faculty (n=200), Faculty of Lecter (n=201) and Engineering Faculty (n=202) and 94 transsexual individuals with diagnosis of gender dysphoria from Dokuz Eylul University Psychiatry Department. Sociodemographic information form, Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient were applied to all participants. Psychometric properties of Systemizing Quotient were investigated in university students. Also, empathy and systemizing scores of university students were compared with transsexual individuals in the context of empathizing-systemizing theory. Findings: Cronbach alpha value for Systemization Quotient was 0,902. Test-retest reliability correlation was 0,89 and Guttman split half reliability correlation was 0,87. It can be said that findings of the reliability analysis of Systemizing Quotient are similar to orijinal version. Differently, in our study, the finding of male predominance in the systemization scores frequently shown in the literature has not been repeated. Based on empathizing-systemizing theory, the most common brain type among transsexual individuals was found as "Type B" (balanced). Conclusion: The Turkish version of Systemizing Quotient has been found to be a valid and reliable measure in university students. As far as we know, this is the first study of adult transsexual individuals and university students in the context of empathizing-systemizing theory in the literature. One of the important findings of the study is that the most common brain type among transsexual individuals is "Type B". Evaluation of brain types among transsexual individuals in the context of empathizing-systemizing theory may provide important contributions to the literature. Key Words: Empathizing, Systemizing, brain type, transgender, validity and reliability