The Waterloo Longitudinal Project: Predicting internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence

Abstract

We examined childhood social withdrawal and aggression as predictive of adolescent maladaption, comparing and contrasting social and emotional outcomes associated with aggression and social withdrawal. We also focused on childhood social competence as a predictor of adolescent adaptation. The sample comprised 60 children for whom a complete data set was available at both ages 7 and 14 years. The predictors were aggregated measures of social withdrawal, aggression, and social competence derived from three sourcesbehavioral observations, peer assessments, and teacher ratings. The outcomes focused primarily on markers of internalizing and externalizing problems. The results indicated that childhood social withdrawal uniquely and significantly contributed to the prediction of adolescent loneliness, felt insecurity, and negative self-regard. Aggression predicted adolescent delinquent activity; social competence predicted felt security in the peer group and substance use in adolescence.

The Best Friendships of Shy/Withdrawn Children: Prevalence, Stability, and Relationship Quality

“…Specifically, socially withdrawn children and young adolescents who are socially anxious and shy (that is, they passively withdraw from peers; Hymel, Rubin, Rowden, & LeMare, 1990) have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 Also, relative to nonwithdrawn children, young socially anxious, shy, withdrawn children are socially unskilled (e.g., Gazelle & Rudolph, 2004;Stewart & Rubin, 1995).…”

Trajectories of Social Withdrawal from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence

“…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 Data also revealed that approximately two-thirds of extremely socially withdrawn children maintained their status from ages 5 to 11 years across every 2-year period .…”

“…Children characterized as socially withdrawn spend most of their time playing alone and on the periphery of the social scene, often due to shyness or social anxiety.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)…”

“…To begin with, observed and peer-and teacher-reports of social withdrawal are contemporaneously associated with such negative, intrapersonal difficulties as low self-esteem, negative self-perceptions of social competence, and anxiety during middle and late childhood (e.g., Hymel et al 1993;). Moreover, researchers have shown that social withdrawal during childhood predicts such internalizing problems in early adolescence as depression and loneliness (e.g., Boivin et al 1995;Gazelle and Rudolph 2004;Gazelle and Ladd 2003;Rubin et al 1995). Furthermore, social withdrawal is associated with, and predictive of, such interpersonal difficulties as peer rejection (e.g., Bowker et al 1998), and victimization (Boivin and Hymel 1997).…”

“…Beyond this work, however, few longitudinal studies exist that chart the pathways of social withdrawal in childhood or that address developmental heterogeneity among individuals. Furthermore, most of the studies that do exist are largely focused on the early years (e.g., Gazelle and Ladd 2003) or involve, at best, only two or three assessments during childhood, and use variable-oriented rather than person-oriented approaches (Gazelle and Rudolph 2004;Rubin et al 1995). The one exception is a recent study by Booth-LaForce and Oxford (2006, submitted), in which distinct trajectory patterns of social withdrawal from early childhood (first grade) to early adolescence (sixth grade) were identified, predicted by early temperament, insensitive parenting styles, and attachment, and related to varying psychosocial and emotional outcomes.…”