PDES - Tese de doutoramento
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Browsing PDES - Tese de doutoramento by Subject "Adolescence"
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- “I’m a teenager and i feel lonely”: Towards identifying the multiple facets and trajectories of lonelinessPublication . Ribeiro, Maria Olívia Moreira; Santos, António José dosLoneliness is currently defined as a negative, painful, and distressful feeling that someone experiences when their relations and their social world is perceived as deficient (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). These feelings are especially salient during adolescence due to the changes and challenges that occur during this developmental period. Given the complex nature of this construct, in the present thesis, our focus was on three relevant aspects: (1) analyze factorial structure and the psychometric characteristics of a multidimensional loneliness measure that considers the different facets of loneliness, (2) examine the possibility of the cooccurrence of the different facets of loneliness, and (3) investigate the stability and changes of loneliness during adolescent years considering three consecutive school years. Adopting the perspective that loneliness is multifaceted, our first aim was to analyze the factorial structure of a loneliness measure, which is RPLQ (Relational Provision Loneliness Questionnaire; Hayden-Thomson, 1989). This measure considers two facets of loneliness (social and emotional) and, simultaneously, the two more important social contexts where these feelings could occur (family and peers). Moreover, it was our intent, establish measurement invariance across sex and age, and establishing discriminant validity. Our results showed substantial support for the construct validity and reliability of the RPLQ. Measurement invariance was established across sex and age, and it was also assumed discriminant validity, provided by the contrast with positive and negative social functioning dimensions in peer group. Studies considering simultaneously the different facets of loneliness and different social relations in which loneliness occurs are lacking. So, in second place, our focus was on the different facets of loneliness in the context of family and peers, and the cooccurrence of them in everyone. Adopting a person-centered approach, our aim was to identify distinct groups of adolescents with similar patterns of social and emotional loneliness within peers and family, and to examine if distinct profiles of loneliness were differently associated with positive and negative features of social adjustment to peer group. Our results revealed two clusters with more adaptative profiles (less-lonely and family-related loneliness) in which adolescents were perceived by peers as having more prosocial behaviors. Two other clusters displayed a more maladaptive profile (more-lonely and peer-related loneliness) in which youths were more likely to be perceived as socially withdrawn, excluded and victimized by peers. Sex differences was found with girls from more-lonely profile showing higher social loneliness related to peers, and social and emotional loneliness related to family context. Finally, longitudinal studies are scarce, and all of them assume that the development process of loneliness was a continuum. So, in third place, our focus was on the stability and changes on loneliness profiles across adolescence. Our aim was to analyze the transitions and transition patterns among the loneliness profiles across the three consecutive school years. Our purpose was to examine the stability and changes in membership profile and examine if there were lasting effects. The association between loneliness and some of its strongest correlates completed our third aim. Our results showed that the less-lonely profile was the more stable, and the More-lonely has the lowest stability. Peer- and Family- related loneliness profiles were moderately stable over time. Even adolescents that showed a tendency to transition to other profiles, they tend to change into a profile with lower loneliness, except for Family-related loneliness profile. Our results also suggest there was a lasting effect of adolescent’s loneliness with those who have a history of this feelings were more likely to be a lonely person later.
- As relações entre pares de jovens adolescentes socialmente retiradosPublication . Correia, João Carlos Verdelho; Santos, António JoséPela primeira vez, na realidade nacional, procurou estudar-se o fenómeno da retirada social na adolescência, isto é, da remoção própria, recorrente e consistente da interação social com os pares. Com base em amostras retiradas de um projeto de investigação longitudinal ainda em curso, procurámos atingir três grandes objetivos: validar um instrumento que permita a sua correta avaliação; caracterizar as relações sociais destes jovens, quer com o grupo de pares, quer com os seus melhores amigos; e, finalmente, analisar a influência de diferentes trajetórias desenvolvimentais de retirada social e de diferentes padrões de amizade no ajustamento psicossocial destes indivíduos ao longo de um ano. Os dados foram recolhidos com base em 3 instrumentos: o Extended Class Play (Burgess, Rubin, Wojslawowicz Bowker, Rose-Krasnor, & Booth-LaForce, 2003) — que permite captar as avaliações que os pares fazem do comportamento, funcionamento e reputação sociais dos colegas —, as Nomeações de Amizade (Bukowski, Hoza, & Boivin, 1994) e o Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker & Asher, 1993) — destinado a aceder às perceções que os sujeitos têm de vários aspetos qualitativos da sua melhor amizade. Uma Análise Fatorial Confirmatória permitiu concluir que o modelo hexafatorial do ECP revelou uma boa qualidade de ajustamento global e local, bem como fiabilidade compósita e validade fatorial, convergente e discriminante e, ainda, boa adequação para género e idade. No que diz respeito às relações sociais, verificámos que os jovens socialmente retirados eram descritos pelos pares como sendo significativamente mais isolados, excluídos e vitimizados, mas também mais prosociais do que os seus colegas. Por outro lado, não diferiam destes no número, nem na qualidade de amizade relatada, ainda que tendessem a ter amigos significativamente mais isolados e excluídos, bem como menos agressivos do que os adolescentes do grupo de controlo. Finalmente, observámos que os adolescentes, que no decurso de um ano deixam de ser considerados pelos pares como retirados, são significativamente menos retirados e excluídos num segundo momento avaliativo do que os que continuam ou passam a sê-lo, mesmo controlando os níveis iniciais destas dimensões. Por outro lado, os sujeitos sem amigos em nenhum dos momentos avaliativos considerados são mais excluídos e vitimizados, bem como menos prosociais do que os que têm sempre um amigo recíproco. Os resultados serão discutidos à luz do que tem sido reportado na literatura, refletindo-se sobre as dificuldades sociais que os jovens retirados enfrentam, bem como sobre o possível efeito protetor da participação numa melhor amizade.