Spanish adaptation of social withdrawal motivation and frequency scales

To adapt into Spanish three scales measuring frequency (SWFS) and motivation for social withdrawal (CSPS and SWMS) and to develop a scale capable of assessing the five motivations for social withdrawal.

Participants were 1,112 Spanish adolescents, aged 12-17 years. The sample was randomly split into two groups in which exploratory and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were performed separately. A sample of adolescents in residential care (n = 128) was also used to perform discriminant validity analyses.

SWFS was reduced to eight items that account for 40% of explained variance (PVE), and its reliability is high. SWMS worked adequately in the original version, according to CFA. Some items from the CSPS were removed from the final Spanish version. The newly developed scale (SWMS-5D) is composed of 20 items including five subscales: Peer Isolation, Unsociability, Shyness, Low Mood and Avoidance. Analyses reveal adequate convergent and discriminant validities.

The resulting SWFS-8 and SWMS-5D could be considered useful instruments to assess frequency and motivation for social withdrawal in Spanish samples.