Psychometric Properties of the Italian Version of the 25-Item Hikikomori Questionnaire for Adolescents

Simone Amendola, Fabio Presaghi, Alan Robert Teo and Rita Cerutti ()
Additional contact information
Simone Amendola: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Fabio Presaghi: Department of Psychology of Development and Socialization Processes, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Alan Robert Teo: Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care (CIVIC), VA Portland Health Care System, Portland, OR 97239, USA
Rita Cerutti: Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: Hikikomori is a form of social withdrawal that is commonly described as having an onset during adolescence, a life stage when other psychiatric problems can also emerge. This study aimed to adapt the 25-item Hikikomori Questionnaire (HQ-25) for the Italian adolescent population, examining its psychometric properties; associations between hikikomori and psychoticism, depression, anxiety, problematic internet use (PIU), psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), to confirm convergent validity of the HQ-25; and the interaction effect between symptoms of hikikomori and PIU in predicting PLEs. Two-hundred and twenty-one adolescents participated in the study. Measures included the HQ-25, the Psychoticism subscale of the Personality Inventory for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the Depression and Anxiety subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Internet Disorder Scale, and the Brief Prodromal Questionnaire. Data showed a satisfactory fit for a three-factor model for the HQ-25 that is consistent with the original study on the HQ-25. Three factors (socialization, isolation, and emotional support) were associated with psychopathology measures. Six participants reported lifetime history of hikikomori. Symptoms of hikikomori and PIU did not interact in predicting PLEs. This is the first study to validate the HQ-25 in a population of adolescents. Findings provide initial evidence of the adequate psychometric properties of the Italian version of the HQ-25 for adolescents.

Keywords: social isolation; social withdrawal; social avoidance; youth; young people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10408/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10408/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10408-:d:893854

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().