A Longitudinal Person‐Centered Examination of Affinity for Aloneness Among Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Affinity for aloneness (AFA; a tendency to enjoy time spent alone) among children and adolescents often has been viewed as negative, even though research on AFA among these age groups is scarce. Moreover, researchers have not accounted for the role that social anxiety (SA) might play in enjoying solitude. The purpose of this two-wave longitudinal study of children (N = 605, 47.76% female, Mage = 9.29 years) and early adolescents (N = 596, 51.51% female, Mage = 12.20 years) was to identify distinct groups based on responses to AFA and SA survey measures, to examine transitions between these groups over time, and to assess group differences in psychosocial adjustment (e.g., peer victimization, depressive symptoms) over time. Latent class analyses revealed four groups at T1 and T2 for both the children and early adolescents. Among these were normative (i.e., LowAFA/LowSA) and AFA (i.e., High AFA/LowModSA) groups. Transition analyses indicated that moving from the normative group at T1 to the AFA group at T2 was common among the early adolescents. In both the child and early adolescent samples, the AFA group did not differ from the normative group on any of the adjustment indicators at T2, controlling for scores at T1. These findings highlight the potentially benign nature of AFA among youth without high SA. Furthermore, they stress the importance of accounting for SA in studies of AFA in order to avoid the risk of pathologizing normal, potentially harmless behaviour. To begin, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Teena Willoughby, for her continuous guidance and support over these past few years. Thank you for believing in me and helping me realize what I am capable of-even during the toughest of times. Your friendliness, enthusiasm, and endless devotion to my learning are greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Michael Busseri and Dr. Drew Dane, for all of their assistance with this project. Your ideas and feedback are greatly appreciated and it's been a pleasure working with you both. To the members of the Adolescent Development Lab (both past and present), thank you for making me feel at home in the lab and always being there to lend a helping hand. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to edit my papers, listen to my presentations, help with my coursework, and so on. To any other friends from the Brock community, thanks for making this experience a memorable one. Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank my friends and family in Oakville (and beyond) for being so supportive and encouraging over these past few years. A special thank you goes to both Nikole and my parents for showing a continuous interest in my work and for being my number one supporters. I can honestly say that none of this would've been possible without you guys.

Normative Beliefs about Social Withdrawal in Adolescence

“…It has been suggested that during the adolescent developmental period, intrinsically motivated solitude becomes viewed as increasingly positive and valuable (Coplan et al., 2019). Consistent with this notion, Daly and Willoughby (2020) recently reported that the percentage of participants who were classified as high in affinity for aloneness and low in social anxiety was higher in their subsample of early adolescents than older children. Coplan et al., (2020) also identified a subsample of unsociable adolescents who were characterized by heightened time spend alone and low sociability, but otherwise not reporting evidence of socio‐emotional difficulties.…”

A person-centered examination of emotion dysregulation, sensitivity to threat, and impulsivity among children and adolescents: An ERP study

“…Given the nature of our study, we were unable to include all items and subscales. Previous research, however, has used this shortened 1-factor version of the SASC-R ( Daly and Willoughby, 2020 ).…”

A latent class examination of affinity for aloneness in late adolescence and emerging adulthood

“…What psychosocial adjustment indicators (i.e., friendship quality, self-esteem, perceived stress, depressive symptoms), measured 1 year earlier, predict membership in these groups (Research question 2)? Given the results of Daly and Willoughby (2020), albeit with a younger population, it is expected that the LCA will reveal an affinity for aloneness group that is not socially anxious, a low group that has low scores on both affinity for aloneness and social anxiety, and several groups who vary in affinity for aloneness but importantly also report moderate to high social anxiety. Further, it is expected that negative psychosocial adjustment, measured 1 year earlier, will increase the likelihood of being in the socially anxious groups rather than the affinity for aloneness or low groups.…”

“…Prevalence of affinity for aloneness tends to increase from childhood to adolescence (Daly & Willoughby, 2020; Danneel et al., 2018). For example, Daly and Willoughby found that the prevalence of an affinity for aloneness group was lower in a late childhood sample (grades 3–5) than in an early adolescent sample (grades 6–8), and in both samples, the prevalence increased 1 year later.…”