Impact of interpersonal problems on psychological distress

Abstract

The present shldy examined the impact of interpersonal problems on psychological distress among adolescent and the med iating role of soc ial skills and selfsi lencing was also explored. The study was conducted in four phases. Phase I was try out of the instruments. For this purpose, lndex of Family Rela tions (U;R; Hudson, 1993), Index of Peer Relations (Hudson, 1993), Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), Scale of Emotional lntelligence (SCI; Batoo1, 2009) and Si lencing the Self Scale (STSS; lack & Dill, 1992) were selected and a sample of 10 adolescents were approached to identify comprehension and understand ing of the items of scale by the sample and to see any cultural irrelevance of items. Further, face validity of these instruments was establ ished through committee approach. Phase 11 was carried out with the objective to translate Silencing the Sel f Scale (STSS). The Scale was translated into Urdu langunge after following standard procedures prescribed by Brislin (1970). Phase III comprised of pilot study with the objectives to detennine preliminary psychometrics and to find out the trends of the data on comparatively smaller sampl e size. A sample of 100 adolescents was approached at three colleges of Islamabad on convenience basis. The findings suggested that instruments have satisfactory reliability and validity except Silencing the Self Scale. As for this scale five items showed negative item total correlation. It was dec ided to retain these items for further testing in main study. In this phase it was also found that the relationship of variables is in desired directinn. Phase TV comprised of Main Study conducted for hypothesis testing. 700 adolescents wilh age range or 16-19 years were approached through convenient sampling from random colleges rrom dirferent cities or Punjab. In step 1 of this phase, Confinnatory Faclor Analysis (CrA) was done using AMOS 18 to confirm the factor stnlcture of STSS. CFA was done on a random sample v; of 300 ndo lescenls. The results revealed Ihal five ilems (I, 8, II, 15 and 21), which showed negative ilem lolal correlation in pi lot study also had negative and poor stnndnrd regression weigh ts and showing week correlat ion with other items. Content ann lysis of these items was done through committee approach with reference to constmct and cultural context. TIle experts of committee decided that these five items were more independent items and were representing the concept of assertiveness rather Ihan sclf- silencing. On the basis of content analysis and empirical evidences, these fi ve items were dropped. Model fit was obtained after deleting those five items i.e. '"I}(dj)= 402.74(290), CFI=.94, GFI"".91, TLI"".87 and RMSEA= 0.3. Cronbach alpha reliability was also increased after deleting items. Step 2 of the study revealed that psychological distress was positively predicted by interpersonal problems and self-silencing whereas social skills were negatively associated with psychological distress. Social skills partially mediate the link between interpersonal problems and psychological distress. High social skill reduces the strength of relationship between interpersonal problems and distress. Regarding gender wise comparison, gi rls scored higher in Self-silencing than boys. Gender-wise differences showed that self-si lencing was negatively related to family problems in boys and mediates the link between fnmi ly problems and psychological dist ress whereas in girls self-silencing is positively re lated to peer relationship problems and mediates the link between peer problems and psychological distress. Self-si lencing was significantly predicted by number of siblings and birth order of the participants. Those participants who had more siblings showed hi gher score of self-silencing. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Thus by providing guidelines to enhance necessary social skill s, interpersonal problems can be avoided. Awareness regarding emotional expression can be provided to develop intervention plans through input in family therapy and other clinical interventions.