Moderating Effects of Aggression on the Associations Between Social Withdrawal Subtypes and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence

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risk factors in studies of social withdrawal subtypes and point to important differences for young adolescent withdrawn boys and girls.

Relations between Unsociability and Peer Problems in Chinese Children: Moderating Effect of Behavioural Control

“…To our knowledge, one study directly examined a moderator between unsociability and adjustment. Bowker, Markovic, et al (2012) reported a protective effect of relational aggression on the relation between unsociability and peer victimization. Our study provided additional evidence of moderating factors in these kinds of associations, in a sample of Chinese children.…”

“…To our knowledge, only one study has examined moderators in these associations. Bowker, Markovic, Cogswell, and Raja () reported that unsociability was a positive predictor of peer victimization at medium and low levels of relational aggression, but not at high levels. That is, unexpectedly, relational aggression appeared to be a protective factor for unsociable children.…”

“…Our focus was on the moderating effect of behavioural control on the relation between unsociability and peer problems. Following recent studies (Bowker, Markovic, et al, 2012;Bowker & Raja, 2011;Coplan et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2014), shyness was included in analyses in order to examine the unique contribution of unsociability to peer problems. Since shyness has been shown to be maladaptive in urban China (Chen, Cen, Li, & He, 2005;Chen, Wang, & Wang, 2009;Liu et al, 2014), we were also interested in the potential moderating role of behavioural control on the relation between shyness and peer problems.…”

Preference-for-Solitude and Adjustment Difficulties in Early and Late Adolescence

“…Social withdrawal, the behavior of consistently withdrawing oneself from the peer group (Rubin & Coplan, 2004), has been linked with such internalizing difficulties as anxiety and depression in childhood and adolescence (see Rubin & Coplan, 2010, for a review). Despite these findings, the risks associated with withdrawal may depend on the underlying motivations; different outcomes have been found for youth with differing combinations of social approach and social avoidance motivations (Bowker & Raja, 2011; Bowker, Markovic, Cogswell, & Raja, 2012; Thijs, Koomen, de Jong, van der Leij, & van Leeuwen, 2004). Shyness consists of high approach and high avoidance motivations (Asendorpf, 1990; 1993); shy youth are interested in interacting with others but withdraw because they are socially anxious.…”

“…Coplan et al (2012) found that low approach motivation was associated with socially withdrawn behaviors in young adolescents, which in turn predicted peer difficulties. Bowker and colleagues (2011; 2012) found that both unsociability and avoidance were associated with peer rejection in young adolescents. Because researchers have yet to examine preference-for-solitude beyond early adolescence, however, it is not known whether preference-for-solitude is maladaptive across adolescence.…”