Leave me alone: Exploring Motivations for Adolescent Social Withdrawal

Abstract

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.