Leave me alone: exploring motivations for adolescent social withdrawal

• Autores: Silvia Indias
• Directores de la Tesis: María Ignacia Arruabarrena Madariaga (dir. tes.), Magdalena Bobowik (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universidad del País Vasco - Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea ( España ) en 2024
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Alicia Pérez de Albéniz Iturriaga (presid.), Itziar Alonso Arbiol (secret.), Antonio J. Santos (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Psicología por la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
• Materias:
  • Psicología
    • Patológica
      • Desordenes del comportamiento
    • Psicología del niño y del adolescente
    • Estudio psicológico de temas sociales
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: ADDI
• Resumen

  • The objective of this thesis was to explore social withdrawal among adolescents and its connection with interpersonal victimization and intrapersonal/psychosocial factors. We used a sample comprising 1,295 adolescents aged 12 to 19 from two communities in North Spain. Of these, 1,139 constituted the community sample, while 156 were currently in residential care. Three existing measures were adapted into Spanish, and we developed a questionnaire to measure social withdrawal frequency, along with a questionnaire capable of assessing five different motivations for social withdrawal: shyness, avoidance, unsociability, low mood and peer isolation. We proposed two explanatory models: The first model analyzed empathy, a key skill to understand social behavior, as a mediator in the relationship between peer victimization and the five social withdrawal motivations. The second model analyzed social and digital leisure activities as mediators in the relationship between social withdrawal and loneliness. Results showed significant indirect effects of empathy, namely the personal distress and fantasy components, on all social withdrawal motivations. Additionally, digital leisure activities did not predict loneliness, while a negative association was found with time spent with friends. These findings suggest that peer victimization might facilitate the development of social withdrawal through emotion dysregulation or daydreaming. Furthermore, engaging in video games, social networks, or other digital activities might not have any effect on the loneliness resulting from a lack of social relationships.