Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Childhood Social Withdrawal, Interpersonal Impairment, and Young Adult Depression: A Mediational Model

  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Building on interpersonal theories of depression, the current study sought to explore whether early childhood social withdrawal serves as a risk factor for depressive symptoms and diagnoses in young adulthood. The researchers hypothesized that social impairment at age 15 would mediate the association between social withdrawal at age 5 and depression by age 20. This mediational model was tested in a community sample of 702 Australian youth followed from mother’s pregnancy to youth age 20. Structural equation modeling analyses found support for a model in which childhood social withdrawal predicted adolescent social impairment, which, in turn, predicted depression in young adulthood. Additionally, gender was found to moderate the relationship between adolescent social impairment and depression in early adulthood, with females exhibiting a stronger association between social functioning and depression at the symptom and diagnostic level. This study illuminates one potential pathway from early developing social difficulties to later depressive symptoms and disorders.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In both the symptom and diagnosis models, excluding maternal depression from the models did not alter the pattern or significance of results.

  2. When both the symptom and diagnosis models were re-run to include the direct effect of social withdrawal on depressive outcomes, all previously significant paths and the indirect effects involving social impairment at age 15 remained significant (zs > 2.0, ps < 0.05).

References

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Integrative guide to the 1991 CBCL, YSR, and TRF profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2006). Multicultural understanding of child and adolescent psychopathology: Implications for mental health assessment. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alfano, M. S., Joiner, T. E., & Perry, M. (1994). Attributional style: a mediator of the shyness-depression relationship? Journal of Research in Personality, 28(3), 287–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bedford, A., & Foulds, G. (1978). Delusions-symptoms-states inventory of anxiety and depression. Windsor: NFER.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boivin, M., Hymel, S., & Bukowski, W. M. (1995). The roles of social withdrawal, peer rejection, and victimization by peers in predicting loneliness and depressed mood in childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 765–785.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural models (pp. 136–162). Newbury Park: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M., Berntson, G. G., Nouriani, B., et al. (2006). Loneliness within a nomological net: an evolutionary perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 1054–1085.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, M. S., Rudolph, K. D., Troop-Gordon, W., & Kim, D. (2004). Reciprocal influences among relational self-views, social disengagement, and peer stress during early adolescence. Child Development, 75, 1140–1154.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., Jr., & Bem, D. J. (1988). Moving away from the world: life-course patterns of shy children. Developmental Psychology, 24, 824–831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Newman, D. L., & Silva, P. A. (1996). Behavioral observations at age 3 years predict adult psychiatric disorders: longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry, 53, 1033–1039.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, L. M., Graham, J. W., & Flaherty, B. P. (1998). An alternative framework for defining mediation. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 33, 295–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coplan, R. J., Gavinski-Molina, M. H., Lagacé-Séguin, D., & Wichmann, C. (2001). When girls versus boys play alone: gender differences in the associates of nonsocial play in kindergarten. Developmental Psychology, 37, 464–474.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cui, X., & Vaillant, G. E. (1997). Does depression generate negative life events? Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 185, 145–150.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cyranowski, J. M., Frank, E., Young, E., & Shear, M. K. (2000). Adolescent onset of the gender difference in lifetime rates of major depression: a theoretical model. Archives of General Psychiatry, 57, 21–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Daley, S. E., Rizzo, C. J., & Gunderson, B. H. (2006). The longitudinal relation between personality disorder symptoms and depression in adolescence: the mediating role of interpersonal stress. Journal of Personality Disorders, 20(4), 352–368.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, J. C., & Anderson, C. A. (1999). Loneliness, shyness, and depression: The etiology and interrelationships of everyday problems in living. In T. Joiner & J. C. Coyne (Eds.), The Interactional Nature of Depression (pp. 93–125). Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Dill, E. J., Vernberg, E. M., Fonagy, P., Twemlow, S. W., & Gamm, B. K. (2004). Negative affect in victimized children: the roles of social withdrawal, peer rejection, and attitudes toward bullying. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32(2), 159–173.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eberhart, N. K., & Hammen, C. L. (2006). Interpersonal predictors of onset of depression during the transition to adulthood. Personal Relationships, 13, 195–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Findlay, L. C., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, A. (2009). Keeping it all inside: shyness, internalizing coping strategies and socio-emotional adjustment in middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 47–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • First, M. B., Spitzer, R. L., Gibbon, M., & Williams, J. B. W. (1995). Structured clinical interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders. Washington: American Psychiatric.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodman, S. H., Rouse, M. H., Connell, A. M., Broth, M. R., Hall, C. M., & Heyward, D. (2011). Maternal depression and child psychopathology: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14, 1–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C. (1991a). The generation of stress in the course of unipolar depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100(4), 555–561.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C. (1991b). Depression runs in families: The social context of risk and resilience in children of depressed mothers. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C. (2005). Stress and depression. Annual Reviews of Clinical Psychology, 1, 293–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C., & Brennan, P. A. (2002). Interpersonal dysfunction in depressed women: impairments independent of depressive symptoms. Journal of Affective Disorders, 72(2), 145–156.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C., Shih, J. H., & Brennan, P. A. (2004). Intergenerational transmission of depression: test of an interpersonal stress model in a community sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(3), 511–522.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammen, C., Brennan, P. A., & Keenan-Miller, D. (2008). Patterns of adolescent depression to age 20: the role of maternal depression and youth interpersonal dysfunction. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 1189–1198.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hart, C. H., Yang, C., Nelson, L. J., Robinson, C. C., Olsen, J. A., Nelson, D. A., et al. (2000). Peer acceptance in early childhood and subtypes of socially withdrawn behaviour in China, Russia, and the United States. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24(1), 73–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfield, M. D., Montgomery, S. A., Keller, M. B., Kasper, S., Schatzberg, A. F., Möller, H., et al. (2000). Social functioning in depression: a review. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 61(4), 268–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hymel, S., Rubin, K. H., Rowden, L., & LeMare, L. (1990). Children’s peer relationships: longitudinal prediction of internalizing and externalizing problems from middle to late childhood. Child Development, 61(6), 2004–2021.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T. E., Jr. (1997). Shyness and low social support as interactive diatheses, with loneliness as mediator: testing an interpersonal-personality view of vulnerability to depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106(3), 386–394.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T., Coyne, J. C., & Blalock, J. (1999). On the interpersonal nature of depression: Overview and synthesis. In T. Joiner & J. C. Coyne (Eds.), The Interactional Nature of Depression (pp. 3–19). Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Jokela, M., Kivimäki, M., Elovainio, M., & Keltikangas-Järvinen, L. (2009). Personality and having children: a two-way relationship. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 218–230.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keeping, J. D., Najman, J. M., Morrison, J., Western, J. S., Andersen, M. J., & Williams, G. M. (1989). A prospective longitudinal study of social, psychological, and obstetrical factors in pregnancy: response rates and demographic characteristics of the 8,556 respondents. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 96, 289–297.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, M., Lambert, W. W., & Bem, D. J. (1996). Life course sequelae of childhood shyness in Sweden: comparison with the United States. Developmental Psychology, 32(6), 1100–1105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, R. C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., & Walters, E. E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62, 593–602.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lara, M. E., Leader, J., & Klein, D. N. (1997). The association between social support and course of depression: is it confounded with personality? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(3), 478–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leadbeater, B. J., Blatt, S. J., & Quinlan, D. M. (1995). Gender-linked vulnerabilities to depressive symptoms, stress, and problem behaviors in adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, D. P. (2000). Contrasts in multiple mediator models. In J. S. Rose, L. Chassin, C. C. Presson, & S. J. Sherman (Eds.), Multivariate applications in substance use research: New methods for new questions (pp. 141–160). Mahwah: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahon, N. E., Yarcheski, A., Yarcheski, T. J., Cannella, B. L., & Hanks, M. M. (2006). Meta-analytic study of predictors for loneliness during adolescence. Nursing Research, 55(5), 308–315.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., Morison, P., & Pelligrini, D. S. (1985). A revised class play method of peer assessment. Developmental Psychology, 3, 523–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayeux, L., Bellmore, A. D., & Cillessen, A. H. N. (2007). Predicting changes in adjustment using repeated measures of sociometric status. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(4), 401–424.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998). Mplus user’s guide. Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.

    Google Scholar 

  • Najman, J. M., Behrens, B. C., Andersen, M., Bor, W., O’Callaghan, M., & Williams, G. M. (1997). Impact of family type and family quality on child behavior problems: a longitudinal study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1357–1365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Najman, J. M., Williams, G. M., Nikles, J., Spence, S., Bor, W., O’Callaghan, M., et al. (2001). Bias influencing maternal reports of child behaviour and emotional state. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 36, 186–194.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Najman, J. M., Heron, M. A., Hayatbakhsh, M. R., Dingle, K., Jamrozik, K., Bor, W., et al. (2008). Screening in early childhood for risk of later mental health problems:a longitudinal study. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 42, 694–700.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, L. J., Rubin, K. H., & Fox, N. A. (2005). Social withdrawal, observed peer acceptance, and the development of self-perceptions in children ages 4 to 7 years. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 20, 185–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neyer, F. J., & Lehnart, J. (2007). Relationships matter in personality development: evidence from an 8-year longitudinal study across young adulthood. Journal of Personality, 75(3), 535–568.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2001). Gender differences in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 173–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ollendick, T. H., Greene, R. W., Weist, M. D., & Oswald, D. P. (1990). The predictive validity of teacher nominations: a five-year follow up of at-risk youth. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18, 699–713.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Orvaschel, H. (1995). Schedule for affective disorder and schizophrenia for school-age children epidemiologic version-5. Ft. Lauderdale: Nova Southeastern University, Center for Psychological Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H. (2001). The play observation scale (POS). College Park: University of Maryland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., & Coplan, R. J. (2004). Paying attention to and not neglecting social withdrawal and social isolation. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50(4), 506–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Hymel, S., & Mills, R. S. L. (1989). Sociability and social withdrawal in childhood: stability and outcomes. Journal of Personality, 57(2), 237–255.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Chen, X., McDougall, P., Bowker, A., & McKinnon, J. (1995). The Waterloo Longitudinal Project: predicting adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems from early and mid-childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 51–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Burgess, K. B., & Coplan, R. J. (2002). Social withdrawal and shyness. In P. K. Smith & C. H. Hart (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of childhood social development (pp. 329–352). Malden: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Wojslawowicz, J. C., Rose-Krasnor, L., Booth-LaForce, C., & Burgess, K. B. (2006). The best friendships of shy/withdrawn children: prevalence, stability, and relationship quality. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 143–157.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2009). Social withdrawal in childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 141–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rudolph, K. D., Hammen, C., Burge, D., Lindberg, N., Herzberg, D., & Daley, S. E. (2000). Toward an interpersonal life-stress model of depression: the developmental context of stress generation. Development and Psychopathology, 12, 215–234.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Satorra, A., & Bentler, P. M. (2001). A scaled difference chi-square test statistic for moment structure analysis. Psychometrika, 66(4), 507–514.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shih, J. H., Eberhart, N. K., Hammen, C. L., & Brennan, P. A. (2006). Differential exposure and reactivity to interpersonal stress predict sex differences in adolescent depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35(1), 103–115.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, C. C., Forehand, R., Smith, K., & Frame, C. L. (1986). The association between social withdrawal and internalizing problems of children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 14(4), 525–535.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo, B. (1996). Are withdrawn children at risk? Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 11(2), 166–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zlotnick, C., Kohn, R., Keitner, G., & Della Grotta, S. A. (2000). The relationship between quality of interpersonal relationships and major depressive disorder: findings from the National Comorbidity Survey. Journal of Affective Disorders, 59(3), 205–215.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Mater Misericordiae Mothers’ Hospital in Queensland, Australia, and the National Institute of Mental Health grant R01 MH52239. We are thankful for the work of project coordinators, Robin LeBrocque, Cheri Dalton Comber, and Sascha Hardwicke, and the many members of the MUSP, M900, and M20 research teams. We gratefully acknowledge William Bor, Michael O’Callaghan, and Gail Williams, principal investigators of the original Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy. Special thanks to the parents and youth in the Mater cohort, without whom this research would not have been possible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1563, USA

    Shaina J. Katz, Christopher C. Conway & Constance L. Hammen

  2. Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Patricia A. Brennan

  3. School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Jake M. Najman

Authors
  1. Shaina J. Katz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher C. Conway
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Constance L. Hammen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Patricia A. Brennan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jake M. Najman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shaina J. Katz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Katz, S.J., Conway, C.C., Hammen, C.L. et al. Childhood Social Withdrawal, Interpersonal Impairment, and Young Adult Depression: A Mediational Model. J Abnorm Child Psychol 39, 1227–1238 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9537-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-011-9537-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation