Unsociability in Chinese adolescents: Cross‐informant agreement and relations with social and school adjustment

Abstract

We examined cross-informant agreement of unsociability and associations of unsociability with social and school adjustment. Participants were 229 (48% girls; M age 5 14.25, SD 5 .78 years) seventh-and eighth-graders in Liaoning, China. Unsociability and shyness were assessed with self-reports and peer nominations. Social and school adjustment data were obtained from multiple sources (self-, peer-, teacher-reports). Peer-reported unsociability was not significantly correlated with self-reported unsociability, but was positively correlated with self-reported shyness. Path models indicated that controlling for shyness and demographic covariates, peer-, but not self-reported, unsociability was associated with low peer acceptance, high peer rejection and exclusion, low school liking, and low academic performance and achievement. The findings suggest that unsociable Chinese adolescents may have multifaceted adjustment difficulties with peers and at school, but only when perceived as unsociable by peers. Methodological and theoretical implications of the results and the lack of correspondence between self-and peer-reports were discussed.

Co‐occurrence of and cross‐informant agreement on shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance during early adolescence

“…We contributed novel information regarding self–peer agreement for avoidance; we found that self‐ and peer reports for avoidance were not associated significantly. Consistent with expectations and findings in samples from several cultures, self‐ and peer reports were associated significantly for shyness (Bayram Özdemir et al, ; Ding et al, ; Spangler & Gazelle, ; Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ). We expected weaker cross‐informant agreement for unsociability, but self‐ and peer reports were not associated significantly.…”

“…Peer‐reported unsociability and avoidance instead were significantly associated with self‐reported shyness. Peer‐reported unsociability similarly has demonstrated stronger associations with self‐reported shyness than self‐reported unsociability in other studies (Bayram Özdemir et al, ; Spangler & Gazelle, ; Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ). The finding that the association between self‐reported shyness and peer‐reported unsociability exceeded the cross‐informant association for unsociability now has been replicated in samples of different ages, in different countries, and using different measures of withdrawal subtypes.…”

“…We expected weaker cross‐informant agreement for unsociability, but self‐ and peer reports were not associated significantly. Previous work suggests that self–peer agreement for unsociability is either somewhat weaker than it is for shyness (small but significant; Bayram Özdemir et al, ) or that the association is not significant (Spangler & Gazelle, ; Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ).…”

“…In the United States, 8‐year olds’ shyness and unsociability positively correlated (medium effect size for self‐report; large effect sizes for peer, parent, and teacher reports; Spangler & Gazelle, ). In early adolescence, shyness and unsociability positively correlated for self‐reports in the United States, India, Finland, and China (medium effect sizes; Barstead et al, ; Bowker & Raja, ; Ding et al, ; Ojanen, Findley‐Van Nostrand, Bowker, & Markovic, ; Sang et al, ; Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ), and for peer nominations in China (medium effect sizes; Liu et al, ; Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ). Finally, U.S. college students’ self‐reported shyness and unsociability positively correlated (medium effect sizes; Bowker et al, ; Nelson, ).…”

“…In Chinese fourth to sixth graders, self‐ and peer‐reported shyness positively correlated (small effect size; Ding et al, ). In Chinese seventh and eighth graders, peer‐ and self‐reported shyness positively correlated (medium effect size), but peer‐ and self‐reported unsociability did not correlate significantly (Zhang & Eggum‐Wilkens, ). Researchers have not examined associations between adolescents’ self‐ and peer‐reported shyness and unsociability in North America.…”