Abstract
Recent research has revealed significant heterogeneity in the peer difficulties associated with social withdrawal subtypes during early adolescence, but little is known about possible sources of that heterogeneity. This study of 194 Indian young adolescents (48% female; 90% Hindu; M age = 13.35 years) evaluated whether the peer adversity related to self-reported social withdrawal subtypes (shyness, unsociability, avoidance) varied as a function of peer-nominated overt and relational aggression, and gender. Regression analyses revealed that overt aggression and gender moderated the pathways between shyness and peer exclusion and peer victimization such that the associations were significant and positive only for boys who were high and girls who were low in overt aggression. Several additional moderator effects were found, including results revealing that relational aggression (in certain cases, in conjunction with gender) moderated the association between: (1) avoidance and peer exclusion and peer rejection, (2) shyness and peer rejection, and (3) unsociability and peer victimization. For adolescents who were average and low in relational aggression, avoidance was positively related to peer rejection, and unsociability was positively related to peer victimization. However, only for boys who were high in relational aggression, avoidance was found to be positively related to peer exclusion, and shyness was positively related to peer rejection. The findings highlight the importance of considering additional individual risk factors in studies of social withdrawal subtypes and point to important differences for young adolescent withdrawn boys and girls.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Asendorpf, J. (1990). Beyond social withdrawal: shyness, unsociability and peer avoidance. Human Development, 33, 250–259. doi:10.1159/000276522.
Asendorpf, J. B., Denissen, J. J. A., & van Aken, M. A. G. (2008). Inhibited and aggressive preschool children at 23 years of age: Personality and social transitions into adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 44, 997–1011. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.997.
Boivin, M., Hymel, S., & Bukowski, W. (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. doi:10.1017/S0954579400006830.
Bowker, J. C., & Raja, R. (2011). Social withdrawal subtypes during early adolescence in India. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 201–212. doi:10.1007/s10802-010-9461-7.
Bowker, J. C., Rubin, K. H., Buskirk-Cohen, A., Rose-Krasnor, L., & Booth-LaForce, C. (2010). Behavioral changes predicting temporal changes in perceived popular status. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 31, 126–133. doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009.10.002.
Bukowski, W. M., Sippola, L. K., & Newcomb, A. F. (2000). Variations in patterns of attraction to same and other-sex peers during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 36, 147–154. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.36.2.147.
Caspi, A., Elder, G. H., & Bem, D. J. (1988). Moving away from the world: Life-course patterns of shy children. Developmental Psychology, 24, 824–831. doi:10.1037//00121649.24.6.824.
Chen, X., & French, D. (2008). Children’s social competence in cultural context. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 591–616. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093606.
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597–600.
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (2002). A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70, 6–20.
Cillessen, A. H. N., & Mayuex, L. (2004). From censure to reinforcement: Developmental changes in the association between aggression and social status. Child Development, 75, 147–163. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00660.x.
Closson, L. M. (2009). Status and gender differences in early adolescents’ descriptions of popularity. Social Development, 18, 412–426. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00459.x.
Coie, J., Dodge, K., & Kupersmidt, J. (1990). Peer group behavior and social status. In S. Asher & J. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 17–59). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Coplan, R. J., & Armer, M. (2007). A “multitude” of solitude: A closer look social withdrawal and nonsocial play in early childhood. Child Development Perspectives, 1, 26–32. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2007.00006.x.
Coplan, R. J., Prakash, K., O’Neil, K., & Armer, M. (2004). Do you ‘want’ to play? Distinguishing between conflicted-shyness and social disinterest in early childhood. Developmental Psychology, 40, 244–258. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.244.
Coplan, R. J., & Weeks, M. (2010). Unsociability in middle childhood: Conceptualization, assessment, and associations with socio-emotional functioning. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 56, 105–130.
Coplan, R. J., Wilson, J., Frohlick, S. L., & Zelenski, J. (2006). A person-oriented analysis of behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation in childhood. Personality and Individual Differences, 41, 917–927. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.02.019.
Crick, N. R. (1997). Engagement in gender normative versus nonnormative forms of aggression: Links to social-psychological adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 33, 610–617. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.610.
Dodge, K. A., Coie, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2006). Aggression and antisocial behavior in youth. In W. V. Damon & R. A. Lerner (Series Eds.) and N. Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 719–788). New York: John Wiley.
Ensminger, M. E., Juon, H. S., & Fothergill, K. E. (2002). Childhood and adolescent antecedents of substance use in adulthood. Addiction, 97, 833–844. doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.2002.00138.x.
Frazier, S. L., Atkins, M. S., Olson, L. H., & Lyon, A. R. (2009). Same-sex and other-sex peer reports: Unique contributors to understanding children’s school adjustment. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 31, 152–158. doi:10.1007/s10862-008-9105-1.
Gazelle, H. (2008). Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children and heterogeneity in peer relations. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1604–1624. doi:10.1037/a0013303.
Gazelle, H., & Ladd, G. (2003). Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood. Child Development, 74, 257–278. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00534.
Gazelle, H., & Rudolph, K. (2004). Moving toward and away from the world: Social approach and avoidance trajectories in anxious solitary youth. Child Development, 75, 829–849. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00709.x.
Graham, S., & Juvonen, J. (2002). Ethnicity, peer harassment, and adjustment in middle school: An exploratory study. Journal of Early Adolescence, 22, 173–199. doi:10.1177/0272431602022002003.
Greco, L. A., & Morris, T. L. (2001). Treating childhood shyness and related behavior: Empirically evaluated approaches to promote positive social interactions. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4, 299–318. doi:10.1023/A:1013543320648.
Gros, D. F., Stauffacher Gros, K., & Simms, L. (2010). Relations between anxiety symptoms and relational aggression and victimization in emerging adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34, 134–143. doi:10.1007/s10608-009-9236-z.
Hymel, S., Bowker, A., & Woody, E. (1993). Aggressive versus withdrawn unpopular children: Variations in peer and self-perceptions in multiple domains. Child Development, 64, 879–896. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02949.x.
Khatri, P., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (2003). Aggression, peer victimization, and social relationships among rural Indian youth. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(1), 87–95. doi:10.1080/01650250244000056.
Kim, J., Rapee, R., Oh, K., & Moon, H. (2008). Retrospective report of social withdrawal during adolescence and current maladjustment in young adulthood: Cross-cultural comparisons between Australian and South Korean students. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 543–563. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.10.011.
Ladd, G. W., & Burgess, K. B. (1999). Charting the relationship trajectories of aggressive, withdrawn, and aggressive/withdrawn children during early grade school. Child Development, 70, 910–929. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00066.
Leadbeater, B. J., Boone, E. M., Sangster, N. A., & Mathieson, L. C. (2006). Sex differences in the costs and benefits of relational and physical aggression in high school. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 409–419. doi:10.1002/ab.20139.
Mayeux, L., & Cillessen, A. H. N. (2008). It’s not just being popular, it’s knowing it, too: The role of self-perceptions of status in the associations between peer status and aggression. Social Development, 17, 871–888. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00474.x.
Moffitt, T. E. (1990). Juvenile delinquency and attention deficit disorder: Boys’ developmental trajectories from age 3 to age 15. Child Development, 61, 893–910. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02830.x.
Parkhurst, J. T., & Asher, S. R. (1992). Peer rejection in middle school: Subgroup differences in behavior, loneliness, and interpersonal concerns. Developmental Psychology, 28, 231–241. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.28.2.231.
Prakash, K., & Coplan, R. J. (2007). Socioemotional characteristics and school adjustment of socially withdrawn children in India. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 123–132. doi:10.1177/0165025407073580.
Prinstein, M. J., Boergers, J., & Spirito, A. (2001). Adolescents’ and their friends’ health-risk behavior: Factors that alter or add to peer influence. Pediatric Psychology, 26, 287–298. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/26.5.287.
Rose, A. J., & Rudolph, K. D. (2006). A review of sex differences in peer relationship processes: Potential trade-offs for the emotional and behavioral development of girls and boys. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 98–131. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.98.
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2009). Social withdrawal in childhood. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 141–171. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163642.
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. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-9017-4.
Spangler, T. L., & Gazelle, H. (2009). Anxious solitude, unsociability, and peer exclusion in middle childhood: A multi-trait multi-method matrix. Social Development, 18, 833–856. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00517.x.
Velasquez, A. M., Santo, J. B., Saldarriaga, L. M., Lopez, L. S., & Bukowski, W. M. (2010). Context-dependent victimization and aggression differences between all-girl and mixed-sex schools. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 56, 283–302. doi:10.1353/mpq.0.0054.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bowker, J.C., Markovic, A., Cogswell, A. et al. Moderating Effects of Aggression on the Associations Between Social Withdrawal Subtypes and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 41, 995–1007 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9712-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9712-0