Pre-service teachers’ empathy and attitudes toward inclusive education—The chain mediating role of teaching motivation and inclusive education efficacy

PLOS One | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321066 April 29, 2025 8 / 18 Table 2. Construct reliability and convergent validity assessment. Construct Indicator Factor loadings Cronbach’s α CR AVE PL PL1 0.926 0.837 0.925 0.860 PL2 0.928 EI EI1 0.917 0.832 0.922 0.856 EI2 0.933 TM PL 0.827 0.746 0.848 0.737 EI 0.888 Empathy Empathy1 0.867 0.949 0.958 0.766 Empathy2 0.901 Empathy3 0.916 Empathy4 0.824 Empathy5 0.905 Empathy6 0.850 Empathy7 0.858 ITE ITE1 0.849 0.921 0.938 0.716 ITE2 0.850 ITE3 0.850 ITE4 0.850 ITE5 0.839 ITE6 0.838 CE CE1 0.852 0.923 0.940 0.723 CE2 0.865 CE3 0.850 CE4 0.857 CE5 0.847 CE6 0.831 BME BME1 0.854 0.922 0.939 0.720 BME2 0.833 BME3 0.845 BME4 0.846 BME5 0.855 BME6 0.858 IEE ITE 0.794 0.750 0.856 0.665 CE 0.820 BME 0.831 Attitudes Attitudes1 0.847 0.905 0.929 0.724 Attitudes2 0.850 Attitudes3 0.827 Attitudes4 0.871 Attitudes5 0.860 Sentiments Sentiments1 0.860 0.903 0.928 0.721 Sentiments2 0.853 Sentiments3 0.855 Sentiments4 0.850 Sentiments5 0.842 (Continued)