Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Examining Their Distinctiveness Through Factor Analysis
Loneliness, Social Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Examining Their Distinctiveness Through Factor Analysis
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DOI：
10.1007/s10826-019-01354-3
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发表时间：
2019-05-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Goossens, Luc
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Danneel, Sofie;Bijttebier, Patricia;Goossens, Luc
目的青少年面临着社会环境的多重变化，这使得他们更容易发展出具有强烈人际因素的内在性问题，如孤独感、社交焦虑和抑郁症状。鉴于人们普遍认为这些内化问题代表着不同的概念，对这些内化问题的研究已经相对独立地发展起来。然而，这种独特性的假设并不经常得到实证检验，尤其是在青春期。为了检验单独考察孤独、社交焦虑和抑郁症状是否有效，本研究实证检验了这些内化问题是否反映了一个单一的潜在结构，或者三个不同的潜在结构是否更好地反映了这些内化问题。方法采用三个大样本(样本1中N=549，M-年龄=14.82；样本2中N=1,116，M-年龄=13.79；样本3中N=1,423，M-年龄=13.58)，对三种类型的内化问题进行调查。对每个样本分别进行验证性因素分析。青少年填写了完善且有效的自我报告问卷。结果这些结果为有关孤独、社交焦虑和抑郁症状共同出现的文献提供了贡献，表明这些内化问题可以最好地代表为相互关联但可区分的结构。结论根据我们的发现，将孤独、社交焦虑和抑郁症状分开进行研究似乎是合理的。检验这些内在化问题随着时间的推移共同发展的统计技术可以在未来的研究中自信地使用。
Objectives Adolescents face multiple changes in their social environment, which makes them more vulnerable to developing internalizing problems with strong interpersonal components, such as feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Given the widespread tacit assumption that these internalizing problems represent distinct concepts, research on these internalizing problems has evolved relatively independently. However, this assumption of distinctiveness has not often been empirically tested, especially not in adolescence. In order to check whether it is valid to examine loneliness, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms independently, the current study empirically tested whether these internalizing problems reflect a single latent construct or whether they are better represented by three distinct latent constructs.Methods Three large samples of Flemish adolescents were used (i.e., N=549, M-age=14.82 in Sample 1; N=1,116, M-age=13.79, in Sample 2, and N=1,423, M-age=13.58 in Sample 3) in which adolescents filled out well-established and validated self-report questionnaires tapping into the three types of internalizing problems. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in each sample separately. Adolescents filled out well-established and validated self-report questionnaires.Results The results contribute to the literature on the co-occurrence of loneliness, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms by showing that these internalizing problems can be best represented as interrelated, but distinguishable constructs.Conclusions Based on our findings, examining loneliness, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms in separate research lines seems justified. Statistical techniques examining co-development over time for these internalizing problems can be used with confidence in future research.