A Factor Analytic Study of the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale in a Sample of African-American and Hispanic-American Children Article

Bagner, DM, Storch, EA, Roberti, JW. (2004). A Factor Analytic Study of the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale in a Sample of African-American and Hispanic-American Children . CHILD PSYCHIATRY & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, 34(3), 237-250. 10.1023/B:CHUD.0000014999.16111.2f

cited authors

  • Bagner, DM; Storch, EA; Roberti, JW

authors

abstract

  • This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale (LSDS) in a sample of African-American and Hispanic-American children. Participants were a non-clinical sample (N = 186) of children ages 11 to 13 in the fifth and sixth grades in a school in the Metropolitan New York area. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor model fits the sample data better than a one-factor model. Internal consistencies were acceptable across the two factors, and convergent validity of the LSDS was supported by a moderately positive relation with a self-report measure of depressive symptomatology. In a structural equation model, ethnicity, grade, and gender predicted little variance in each LSDS factor, suggesting little measure bias. These preliminary findings suggest that the LSDS is a psychometrically sound instrument for African-American and Hispanic-American children, yet future inspection of its factor structure in more diverse samples of children is warranted.

publication date

  • March 1, 2004

published in

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 237

end page

  • 250

volume

  • 34

issue

  • 3