Factorial Invariance, Latent Mean Differences of the Panas and Affective Profiles and Its Relation to Social Anxiety in Ecuadorian Sample

Abstract

Positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) are related with aspects that are part of people’s psychological well-being, and the possibility of combining both dimensions to create four affective profiles, self-fulfilling (high PA and low NA), low affective (low PA and low NA), high affective (high PA and high NA) and self-destructive (low PA and high NA), has recently appeared. The current work aims to validate the short version of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in Ecuador, test the existence of the four affective profiles and analyze its relation with social anxiety. The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents was employed in a sample of 1786 Ecuadorian students aged from 15 to 18 years (M = 16.31, SD = 1.01). The factorial invariance of the scale across sex and age groups was proved and latent mean analyses showed that girls and 18-year-old students obtained the highest scores in negative affect. With regard to the affective profiles, the cluster analyses confirmed the existence of the four mentioned profiles, and the self-fulfilling profile obtained the lowest scores in all the dimensions of social anxiety, whereas the self-destructive profile obtained the highest scores.

Affective Profiles and Anxiety or Non-Anxiety-Related Reasons for School Refusal Behavior: Latent Profile Analysis in Spanish Adolescents

“…Therefore, these statements are consistent with the relationships identified in other studies between high negative affect and low positive affect and anxiety and/or depression (Anderson et al, 2010;Domaradzka and Fajkowska, 2019). Similar results were seen in the work of Sanmartín and collaborators, where the self-destructive profile scored significantly higher on the first three SRAS-R-C factors, compared to the other profiles (Sanmartín et al, 2018a), and had higher scores for social anxiety (Sanmartín et al, 2020). These findings would also be in line with the data provided from the studies by Higa et al (2002), Gonzálvez et al (2016), andInglés et al (2016), where significant correlations were found between negative affect and the first three SRAS-R-C factors.…”

“…This result would be, to some extent, supported by the negative and significant correlations between positive affect and the first two SRAS-R-C factors found in the study by Gonzálvez et al (2016). Likewise, this finding is indirectly supported by the research carried out with adolescents Sanmartín et al, 2020) in which it was observed that the adolescents with the self-fulfilling profile showed lower scores in depressive symptoms and social anxiety, psychological variables related to school refusal behavior in these first two SRAS-R-C factors.…”

“…These profiles have been subsequently replicated in studies carried out with samples of different ages and nationalities. An example of this is the works of Sanmartín et al ( 2018a , b , 2020 ), who, through cluster analysis, identified these same profiles in Spanish children and Ecuadorian adolescents.…”

“…Similar results were corroborated in Iranian (Garcia and Moradi, 2013 ) and Italian (Di Fabio and Bucci, 2015 ) adolescents, where it was again observed that those categorized as having the self-fulfilling profile showed higher levels of life satisfaction, psychological well-being, self-esteem, and optimism. More recently, in a study carried out with Ecuadorian adolescents, Sanmartín et al ( 2020 ) found that students categorized as having the self-fulfilling profile showed the lowest scores for social anxiety, while those categorized as having the self-destructive profile obtained the highest scores. In summary, most research highlights that the self-fulfilling profile is related to a greater psychological adjustment, while the self-destructive profile is associated with more maladaptive variables.…”

“…To evaluate affect, Watson et al ( 1988 ) designed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). This is a tool widely used by the scientific community and has been shown to possess adequate psychometric properties in Spanish adolescents (Sandin, 2003 ; Ebesutani et al, 2012 ; Ortuño-Sierra et al, 2015 , 2019 ; Sanmartín et al, 2020 ). This instrument conceptualizes positive and negative affect as independent orthogonal dimensions that can be categorized at a high or low level.…”