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Chapter IV: Results
two multivariate outliers were identified. These two outliers were the same two out of the three
identified using Mahalanobis distance. Cohen and Cohen (1983) suggest that if outliers represent
less than one or two percent of the total number of cases, they can remain in the data set. Hence,
the three multivariate outliers were retained in the multivariate analyses. A bi-scatterplot was
performed between each independent variable against the dependent variable depressive
symptomatology, and the linearity was reasonable and not homoscedastic (Tabachnick & Fidell,
2001). The assumptions have been met.
Although Poor Emotion Awareness and Expressive Reluctance scales were strongly
correlated (r = .67), they were still implemented as separate independent variables in regression
analysis because of their theoretical distinctions and their differences in measuring emotion
objectives (see Self-Awareness of Emotion and Expression of Emotion section in Methodology
Chapter; J. L. Zeman, personal communication, March 6, 2007). According to Tabachnick and
Fidell (2001), careful thought to using correlated variables is advised for those with .70 and
above. There are also differences in thought as to the general rule in acceptance of any variable
that could indicate problems with multicollinearity. According to de Vaus (2002), any variable
with a Tolerance of .2 or less or a Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) of 5 or more is deemed
problematic within regression procedures. Others (Tabachnick and Fidell, 1996) note that a
variable with a Tolerance of .8 to 1 and the VIF between 1 and 3 are the more appropriate
choices. The Tolerance of these independent variables implemented in regression analysis were
.48 and .41 respectively, and the VIF were 2.10 and 2.4 respectively. No multicollinearity was
evident with the remaining variables implemented in regression analysis.
Correlational Analyses
A series of zero-order correlations were used to measure the associations of social
perspective coordination, emotion understanding and expression, and emotion regulation, to
dimensions of adolescents' depressive symptomatology. The results of the correlational analysis
presented in Table 28 demonstrate that several significant relationships were found. The
dimension of depressive symptomatology was strongly and positively associated with Poor
Emotion Awareness and Expressive Reluctance of Emotion to others. To a lesser but significant
positive correlation, the dimension of depressive symptomatology was positively related to
inhibition of Anger Expression. In contrast, depressive symptomatology was negatively
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