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Longitudinal Changes in Victimized Youth’s Social Anxiety and Solitary Behavior

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Abstract

This investigation’s aims were to assess normative trends in social anxiety and preference for solitude by gender from early childhood to late adolescence and examine the associations among the timing and duration of peer victimization and patterns of continuity or change in social anxiety and preference for solitude across this age period. A sample of 383 children (193 girls) was followed from kindergarten (Mage = 5.50) through grade 12 (Mage = 17.89), and measures of peer victimization, social anxiety, and preference for solitude were repeatedly administered across this epoch. Five victimization trajectory subtypes emerged, capturing individual differences in victimization frequency and continuity (i.e., high-chronic, moderate-emerging, early victims, low victims, and non-victims). Results supported the conclusion that chronic victimization, a key stressor in children’s peer environments, plays a different role in the development of social anxiety and preference for solitude. Whereas chronic victimization was associated with the maintenance of social anxiety, it accompanied gains in preference for solitude. The findings provide a more complete account of the overall prevalence, stability, and developmental course of victimized youths’ social anxiety and preference for solitude than has been reported to date.

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Acknowledgements

This investigation was conducted as part of the Pathways Project, a larger longitudinal investigation of children’s social, psychological, and scholastic adjustment in school contexts that is supported by the National Institutes of Health (1 RO1MH-49223, 2-RO1MH-49223, R01HD-045906 to Gary W. Ladd). Special appreciation is expressed to all the children and parents who made this study possible, and to members of the Pathways Project for assistance with data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics and Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 873701, Tempe, AZ, 85287-2502, USA

    Gary W. Ladd & Becky Kochenderfer-Ladd

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Idean Ettekal

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  1. Gary W. Ladd
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  2. Idean Ettekal
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  3. Becky Kochenderfer-Ladd
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Correspondence to Gary W. Ladd.

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Ladd, G.W., Ettekal, I. & Kochenderfer-Ladd, B. Longitudinal Changes in Victimized Youth’s Social Anxiety and Solitary Behavior. J Abnorm Child Psychol 47, 1211–1223 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0467-x

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