A Preliminary Adaptation and Validation of the Indonesian Version of the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescent (LACA)

Lydia Agnes Gultom, Airin Triwahyuni, Laila Qodariah
(Submitted 9 July 2023)
(Published 25 October 2024)

Abstract


Measuring loneliness in children and adolescents is crucial, as it is a prevalent issue that can impact their emotional and social development. Despite its importance, there are limited validated tools available to assess loneliness within the Indonesian cultural context. The Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA) is a widely used instrument for assessing feelings of loneliness and aloneness among children and adolescents. This study aimed to adapt and collect evidence of the validity of the Indonesian version of the LACA following the International Test Commission (ITC) Guidelines for Translating and Adapting Tests. Using the convenience sampling technique, 297 children and adolescents aged 10–18 years were selected as respondents in this study. The results show that the Indonesian version of four LACA sub-scales has good internal consistency. Confirmatory factor analysis shows that the four-factor model has an acceptable model fit. However, six items were omitted from the LACA loneliness measurement model for having a low contribution to loneliness. As a result, the four-factor model with fewer items shows a better fit. According to the research findings, the Indonesian version of the LACA can be used to measure loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness in the population of children and adolescents in Indonesia, with a recommendation to omit six items. The results of the tests on alternative two-factor models show that the loneliness in relationships with parents and loneliness in relationships with peers sub-scales can be used separately to measure the source of loneliness in children and adolescents in Indonesia.

Keywords


psychology; psychological assessment; quantitative method

Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.22146/gamajop.86699

References


Agriyanti, S. M., & Rahmasari, D. (2021). Perbedaan tingkat kesepian pada siswa kelas X dan XI ditinjau dari efektivitas komunikasi orangtua. Character Jurnal Penelitian Psikologi, 8(5), 181–188. https://doi.org/10.26740/cjpp.v8i5.41923

Alagumalai, S., Curtis, D. D., & Hungi, N. (2005). Applied Rasch measurement: A book of exemplars papers in honour of John P. Keeves. Springer.

American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (2014). Standards for educational and psychological testing. American Educational Research Association.

Asher, S. R., Hymel, S., & Renshaw, P. D. (1984). Loneliness in children. Child Development, 55(4), 1456. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130015

Asher, S. R., & Wheeler, V. A. (1985). Children’s loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer status. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(4), 500–505. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.53.4.500

Barrett, P. (2007). Structural equation modelling: Adjudging model fit. Personality and Individual Differences, 42(5), 815–824. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.09.018

Bentler, P. M., & Bonett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88(3), 588–606. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.588

Cappelleri, J. C., Jason Lundy, J., & Hays, R. D. (2014). Overview of classical test theory and item response theory for the quantitative assessment of items in developing patient-reported outcomes measures. Clinical Therapeutics, 36(5), 648–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinthera.2014.04.006

Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E., & Sturman, E. D. (2012). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurement (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Cole, A., Bond, C., Qualter, P., & Maes, M. (2021). A systematic review of the development and psychometric properties of loneliness measures for children and adolescents. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6), 3285. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18063285

Danneel, S., Maes, M., Bijttebier, P., Rotsaert, M., Delhaye, M., Berenbaum, T., & Goossens, L. (2018). Loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness in Belgian adolescents: Measurement invariance across language, age, and gender groups. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 40(4), 678–690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9671-9

Ebel, R. L., & Frisbie, D. A. (1991). Essentials of educational measurement (5th ed.). Prentice-Hall.

Eccles, A. M., Qualter, P., Madsen, K. R., & Holstein, B. E. (2020). Loneliness in the lives of Danish adolescents: Associations with health and sleep. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 48(8), 877–887. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494819865429

Endler, N. S., & Parker, J. D. (1990). Multidimensional assessment of coping: A critical evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 844–854. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.844

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151312

Galanaki, E. P. (2014). Children’s perceptions of loneliness. Hellenic Journal of Psychology, 5(May), 258–280. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242730112

Goossens, L. (2016). LEKA (Leuvense Eenzaamheidsschaal voor kinderen en adolescenten): Eenzaamheid meten bij jongeren in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Acco.

Goossens, L., & Beyers, W. (2002). Comparing measures of childhood loneliness: Internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 31(2), 252–262. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15374424JCCP3102_10

Goossens, L., Lasgaard, M., Luyckx, K., Vanhalst, J., Mathias, S., & Masy, E. (2009). Loneliness and solitude in adolescence: A confirmatory factor analysis of alternative models. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(8), 890–894. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.07.011

Guilford, J. P., & Fruchter, B. (1978). Fundamental statistics in psychology and education (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Hair, J. F., Babin, B. J., Black, W. C., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Pearson.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning EMEA.

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2016). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.

Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. European Business Review, 31(1), 2–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203

Hards, E., Loades, M. E., Higson‐Sweeney, N., Shafran, R., Serafimova, T., Brigden, A., Reynolds, S., Crawley, E., Chatburn, E., Linney, C., McManus, M., & Borwick, C. (2022). Loneliness and mental health in children and adolescents with pre‐existing mental health problems: A rapid systematic review. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(2), 313–334. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12331


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2024 Gadjah Mada Journal of Psychology (GamaJoP)

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.