Children's Peer Relationships: Longitudinal Prediction of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems from Middle to Late Childhood

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128

This study evaluated the validity of mediating pathways in predicting self-assessed negative affect from shyness/social withdrawal, peer rejection, victimization by peers (overt and relational), and the attitude that aggression is legitimate and warranted. Participants were 296 3rd through 5th graders (156 girls, 140 boys) from 10 elementary schools. Self-report measures of victimization, attitudes, and negative affect, and a teacher-report measure of shyness/social withdrawal and peer rejection were completed during the spring semesters of 2 consecutive years. Hierarchical regression analyses supported the mediational model in predicting negative affect at Time 2. However, an increase in negative affect over the 12-month study period was best accounted for by direct effects of increased victimization and changes in attitudes/attributions regarding aggression. Implications for the planning of school interventions designed to interrupt these victimization-maladjustment pathways are discussed.

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confidence: 87%

Negative Affect in Victimized Children: The Roles of Social Withdrawal, Peer Rejection, and Attitudes Toward Bullying

Dill

Vernberg

Fonagy

et al. 2004

170

128

“…were stable between ages 7 years and 10 years (e.g., Hymel et al 1990;Rubin et al 1995). Data also revealed that approximately two-thirds of extremely socially withdrawn children maintained their status from ages 5 to 11 years across every 2-year period .…”

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confidence: 88%

“…Children characterized as socially withdrawn spend most of their time playing alone and on the periphery of the social scene, often due to shyness or social anxiety. Importantly, social withdrawal has been shown to be moderately stable from early through middle childhood (Hymel et al 1990;Rubin et al 1989Rubin et al , 1995 and from late childhood through early adolescence (e.g., Schneider et al 1998). For example, in the Waterloo Longitudinal Project, Rubin and colleagues reported that observed social withdrawal (the aggregate of [unoccupied onlooker solitary play] among familiar peers) was stable from ages 5 to 9 years and that peer perceptions of social withdrawal (peer nominations for such items as Someone who is shy and Someone who likes to play alone)…”

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confidence: 99%

Trajectories of Social Withdrawal from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence

Rubin

Bowker

et al. 2008

Self Cite

237

192

Heterogeneity and individual differences in the developmental course of social withdrawal were examined longitudinally in a community sample (N=392). General Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) was used to identify distinct pathways of social withdrawal, differentiate valid subgroup trajectories, and examine factors that predicted change in trajectories within subgroups. Assessments of individual (social withdrawal), interactive (prosocial behavior), relationship (friendship involvement, stability and quality, best friend's withdrawal and exclusion/ victimization) and group-(exclusion/victimization) level characteristics were used to define growth trajectories from the final year of elementary school, across the transition to middle school, and then to the final year of middle school (fifth-to-eighth grades). Three distinct trajectory classes were identified: low stable, increasing, and decreasing. Peer exclusion, prosocial behavior, and mutual friendship involvement differentiated class membership. Friendlessness, friendship instability, and exclusion were significant predictors of social withdrawal for the increasing class, whereas lower levels of peer exclusion predicted a decrease in social withdrawal for the decreasing class. KeywordsSocial withdrawal; Developmental trajectories; Friendship; Exclusion The study of developmental psychopathology has characterized maladjustment as comprising two broad forms of difficulties-undercontrol (e.g., aggression) and overcontrol

“…Specifically, socially withdrawn children and young adolescents who are socially anxious and shy (that is, they passively withdraw from peers; Hymel, Rubin, Rowden, & LeMare, 1990) have negative self-perceptions of their social competence and their relationships, experience loneliness, and suffer from depressive symptoms (e.g., Boivin & Hymel, 1997;Gazelle & Ladd, 2003;Nilzon & Palmerus, 1998;Rubin, Chen, McDougall, Bowker, & McKinnon, 1995). Also, relative to nonwithdrawn children, young socially anxious, shy, withdrawn children are socially unskilled (e.g., Gazelle & Rudolph, 2004;Stewart & Rubin, 1995).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Best Friendships of Shy/Withdrawn Children: Prevalence, Stability, and Relationship Quality

Rubin

Wojslawowicz

Rose‐Krasnor

et al. 2006

Self Cite

299

343

The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/ socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/ nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.Keywords social withdrawal; friendship; adjustment Long ago, Jean Piaget and Harry Stack Sullivan posited that peer relationships provide children with a unique context for emotional and social development (Piaget, 1932;Sullivan, 1953). Piaget maintained that the symmetrical power relationship unique to peer relationships afforded children the opportunity to develop perspective-taking abilities, social competence, and advanced moral reasoning. Sullivan emphasized the intimacy of children's same-gender chumships, arguing that such intimacy promotes identity development and contributes to later successes in romantic relationships. The implication of their arguments was that children who were not involved in peer relationships would miss out on developmental opportunities important for positive adjustment and growth (Rubin, Burgess, Kennedy, & Stewart, 2003).Today, the peer relationships literature supports Piaget's and Sullivan's early contentions, clearly demonstrating the significance of peer relationships, particularly friendships, in children's emotional and social development (see Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript development of perspective-taking and moral reasoning skills (e.g., McGuire & Weisz, 1982). Friendship also has been positively associated with measures of self-esteem and feelings of general self-worth (e.g., Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998) and is considered an important source of social support, particularly under potentially stressful situations (Berndt & Keefe, 1995;Ladd, 1990). Further, researchers have shown that friendship can protect children from the negative externalizing and internalizing "costs" associated with peer victimization (e.g., Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999).It also has been shown that children who are without close peer relationships altogether or those who have difficulties with their peers, often experience ...