Shyness, Preference for Solitude, and Adolescent Internalizing: The Roles of Maternal, Paternal, and Best-Friend Support

Is autonomic functioning distinctly associated with anxiety and unsociability in preschoolers?

There are many benefits of peer interactions for children's social, emotional, and cognitive development, and isolation from peers may have negative consequences for children. Although biological processes may underlie social withdrawal broadly, distinct patterns may be associated with withdrawal behaviors depending on their underlying motivation (e.g., shy versus disinterested). This study investigated the role of autonomic nervous system activity, as assessed via skin conductance level (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in predicting changes in unsociability (e.g., lack of interest in peers) and anxious-fearfulness (e.g., discomfort among peers). Data were collected using a community sample of 92 US preschool children (45.7% female; Mage = 45.51 months, SDage = 3.81 months) at two time points one year apart. Gender differences were also explored. Baseline physiology was assessed while viewing a neutral video clip, and reactivity was assessed while viewing social exclusion and post-aggression discussion videos. For all children, coinhibition (i.e., SCL inhibition accompanied by RSA inhibition) to the post-aggression discussion video and blunted SCL activation to the exclusion video were prospectively associated with higher levels of anxious-fearfulness one year later. For boys only, baseline reciprocal sympathetic activation (i.e., SCL activation and RSA inhibition) was prospectively related to higher levels of unsociability one year later. For girls only, RSA inhibition in response to the post-aggression discussion video was prospectively related to higher levels of unsociability one year later. Findings contribute to a growing literature on autonomic reactivity in preschoolers' adjustment and suggest possible differences in the physiological processes underlying unsociability and anxious-fearfulness.

The moderating effects of parental psychological control on the relationship between unsociability and socio-emotional functioning among Chinese children

Introduction

There have been studies indicating that children's unsociability was associated with poorer socio-emotional functioning in China. Although some researchers have found that parenting behavior would influence the relationship between children's unsociability and adjustment, the role of parental psychological control has not been explored. This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of parental psychological control on the relationship between unsociability and socio-emotional functioning in Chinese children.

Methods

A total of 1,275 students from Grades 3 to 7 (637 boys, Mage = 10.78 years, SD = 1.55 years) were selected from four public schools in Shanghai to participate in this study. Data of unsociability, peer victimization and social preference were collected from peer-nominations, and data of parental psychological control, depressive symptoms and social anxiety were collected from self-reports.

Results

There were positive associations between unsociability and peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety, as well as a negative association between unsociability and social preference. Parental psychological control moderated these associations, specifically, the associations between unsociability and peer victimization, social preference, and depressive symptoms were stronger, and the association between unsociability and social anxiety was only significant among children with higher level of parental psychological control.

Discussion

The findings in the current study highlight the importance of parental psychological control in the socio-emotional functioning of unsociable children in the Chinese context, enlightening educators that improving parenting behavior is essential for children's development.

The Impact of Callous-Unemotional Traits on Achievement, Behaviors, and Relationships in School: A Systematic Review

Disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) are associated with significant academic, behavioral, and relationship challenges in the school setting. Children with co-occurring DBDs and callous-unemotional (CU) traits show a distinct pattern of early starting, chronic, and aggressive disruptive behavior and are resistant to traditional DBD interventions. There is growing evidence that CU traits have important consequences for children's school functioning. The purpose of this systematic review is to synthesize research on CU traits in school with a focus on academics, relationships, and behavior. We searched PsycINFO, PubMed, and Education Full-Text to identify 37 empirical studies that met inclusionary criteria. Findings suggest that CU traits are associated with poor academic performance, high levels of aggression and conduct problems, and difficulty forming relationships at school, often above and beyond the impact of DBDs alone. Findings and future directions are discussed including how the current study can support key stakeholders in promoting the success of students with elevated CU traits.

Moderating effect of classroom sociable norm on the relations between unsociability and internalizing problems in Chinese adolescents

Objectives

The goal of the present study was to examine the moderating effect of classroom sociable norm on the relations between unsociability and internalizing problems (the indicators included depression, loneliness and self-esteem) in Chinese adolescents.

Methods

Participants were N = 1,160 adolescents in Grade 4-8 from Shanghai, People's Republic of China. They completed questionnaires about unsociability, sociability, and social preference via peer nominations, while depression, loneliness, and self-esteem were collected via self-report.

Results

It was found that unsociability was positively associated with depression and loneliness, and negatively associated with self-esteem. Moreover, the relations between unsociability and indicators of internalizing problems were moderated by classroom sociable norm. More specifically, the significant positive associations between unsociability and depression and loneliness were stronger in classrooms with high sociable norm, and the negative association between unsociability and self-esteem was only significant in such classrooms.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that classroom sociable norm plays an important role in unsociable adolescents' psychological adjustment in China. Researchers should focus more on the influence of classroom environment on adolescents' development in future.

Social Withdrawal in Adolescence: Developmental and Humanistic Perspectives

In both the West and East, social withdrawal, manifested as solitude and shyness, has distinct developmental implications for adolescent mental health. Representative countries in the West (e.g., North America and Europe) and East (e.g., China) were selected to compare cultural differences. This literature review aims to discuss how adolescents experience solitude and shyness differently in North America, Europe, and China from a developmental perspective, and adopts a cross-cultural perspective to explain the distinct outcomes of adolescent social withdrawal. Furthermore, humanistic perspectives are discussed to link adolescent development and humanism in terms of previous empirical evidence and counseling practices. In North America and Europe, solitude has both adaptive and harmful effects on adolescents’ mental health. However, solitude in China and shyness in both cultural settings tend to adversely affect adolescent mental health. These findings from previous studies correspond to developmental perspectives in terms of mental health, personal adaptation, and self-development during adolescence. The strengths, weaknesses, and implications of this literature review are also discussed.

Lifetime poly-victimization and later bullying victimization: Associations with internalizing problems and out-of-home care

BACKGROUND

Many youth in out-of-home care (OOHC) have experienced victimization in their lifetime making them vulnerable to mental health problems and further victimization. However, little is known about mechanisms behind this continuing victimization, e.g. in the form of bullying victimization, and about possible mediating and moderating factors.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the association between lifetime poly-victimization and later bullying victimization, as well as mediation by internalizing problems, and moderation by OOHC.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

In total n = 226 youth (n = 117 OOHC, n = 109 biological families) participated, with one of their social/biological caregivers when possible, resulting in subsamples of n = 159 participants (11-21 years) for self-report, and n = 210 participants (8-21 years) for caregiver report.

METHODS

An online survey assessed self-report of bullying victimization in the past six months, as well as self-report and caregiver report of lifetime poly-victimization and internalizing problems.

RESULTS

Based on both self-report and caregiver report, youth in OOHC showed higher levels of poly-victimization and internalizing problems than youth in biological families. In self-report, a conditional direct effect of lifetime poly-victimization on bullying victimization was found for youth in OOHC, c' = 0.18, SE = 0.07, p = .007, while the association was mediated by internalizing problems for youth in biological families, ab = 0.13, 95 % CI [0.020; 10.805]. In the caregiver report, there was neither a direct nor a mediated effect of lifetime poly-victimization on bullying victimization.

CONCLUSIONS

The results stress the importance of considering the high impact of poly-victimization in predicting bullying victimization, particularly for youth in OOHC. For youth in biological families, a mediating effect of internalizing problems was found.

Positive classroom climate buffers against increases in loneliness arising from shyness, rejection sensitivity and emotional reactivity

Loneliness is detrimental to well-being, particularly during the transition into and early years of adolescence when peer relations are ascendant. Shy and emotionally sensitive youth, who often spend considerable time alone, have known vulnerabilities to loneliness. Studies of young children suggest that a supportive classroom context may mitigate adjustment risks, reducing victimization and improving a sense of belonging. Herein we extend this work to older students, testing the hypothesis that a positive classroom climate protects temperamentally vulnerable children (i.e., those who are shy, emotionally reactive, or sensitive to rejection) from escalating levels of loneliness across the course of a school year. A community sample of 540 (277 boys, 263 girls) Lithuanian students in grades 5-7 (10-14 years old) completed identical surveys twice, 4-5 months apart. Self-reports assessed shyness, emotional reactivity, and rejection sensitivity, as well as perceived positive classroom climate and loneliness. Path analyses indicated that longitudinal associations from shyness, emotional reactivity, and rejection sensitivity to increased loneliness were mitigated by positive classroom climate. In each case, temperamental vulnerability anticipated greater loneliness for youth reporting low but not high positive classroom climate. The results held after accounting for several potential confounding variables. The findings have practical implications, suggesting that scholars and practitioners redouble efforts to improve classroom support, particularly for temperamentally vulnerable children who are at elevated risk for solitude, loneliness, and attendant mental health challenges.

Age-related differences in behavioral problems between shy adults and shy children

Although both concurrent and longitudinal relations between shyness and behavioral problems are well-established in childhood, there is relatively less work exploring these associations in emerging adulthood. In addition, age-related differences in the strength of these relations in child and adult samples have not been fully explored within the same study. We collected measures of shyness, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and social problems in a sample of 94 typically developing 6-year-old children (50 female; Mage = 78.3 months, SD = 3.1 months) and 775 undergraduate students (633 female, Mage = 18.2 years, SD = 0.9 years) from parent-reported and self-reported questionnaires, respectively. Shyness interacted with age in predicting internalizing behaviors and social problems, but not externalizing behaviors. Specifically, shyness was concurrently and positively related to internalizing and social problems in young adulthood, but this relation was not found in childhood. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental consequences of shyness across the lifespan and limitations of relying on ratings from different informants when examining age-related differences.

The Effects of Social Achievement Goals on Social Withdrawal in Middle School Students: The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of self-efficacy in the relationship between social achievement goals (mastery goal, performance-approach goal, and performance-avoid goal) and social withdrawal among middle school students.Methods: The participants in this study were 325 middle school students, ranging from first to third grade from seven middle schools. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was also used to investigate the mediating model.Results: The results of this study were as follows. First, the level of the social mastery goal and social performance-approach goal decreased students’ social withdrawal, and the level of the social performance-avoid goal increased it. Second, the level of the social mastery goal increased self-efficacy, whereas the level of social performance-avoid goal decreased it. The level of self-efficacy had a significantly negative influence on middle school students’ social withdrawal. Further, the level of self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between the social mastery goal and social withdrawal, and between the social performance-avoid goal and social withdrawal.Conclusion: In conclusion, the higher the level of social mastery goal, the higher the level of self-efficacy, and the lower the level of social performance-avoid goal, the higher the level of self-efficacy, and, consequently, the lower the level of social withdrawal. These outcomes suggest that it would be helpful to change the type of social achievement goals and that improving the level of self-efficacy of middle school students would contribute to reducing their social withdrawal.

Quality over quantity: A transactional model of social withdrawal and friendship development in late adolescence

The aim of this study was to test a longitudinal, transactional model that describes how social withdrawal and friendship development are interrelated in late adolescence, and to investigate if post‐secondary transitions are catalysts of change for highly withdrawn adolescents’ friendships. Unilateral friendship data of 1,019 adolescents (61.3% female, 91% Dutch‐origin) from the Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS) cohort were collected five times from ages 17 to 18 years. Social withdrawal was assessed at 16 and 19 years. The transactional model was tested within a Structural Equation Modeling framework, with intercepts and slopes of friendship quantity, quality, and stability as mediators and residential transitions, education transitions, and sex as moderators. The results confirmed the presence of a transactional relation between withdrawal and friendship quality. Whereas higher age 16 withdrawal predicted having fewer, lower‐quality, and less‐stable friendships, only having lower‐quality friendships, in turn, predicted higher age 19 withdrawal, especially in girls. Residential transitions were catalysts of change for highly withdrawn youth's number of friends: higher withdrawal predicted a moderate increase in number of friends for adolescents who relocated, and no change for those who made an educational transition or did not transition. Taken together, these results indicate that the quality of friendships—over and above number of friends and the stability of those friendships—is particularly important for entrenching or diminishing withdrawal in late adolescence, and that relocating provides an opportunity for withdrawn late adolescents to expand their friendship networks.

A Social Affective Neuroscience Model of Risk and Resilience in Adolescent Depression: Preliminary Evidence and Application to Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents

Depression is a disorder of dysregulated affective and social functioning, with attenuated response to reward, heightened response to threat (perhaps especially social threat), excessive focus on negative aspects of the self, ineffective engagement with other people, and difficulty modulating all of these responses. Known risk factors provide a starting point for a model of developmental pathways to resilience, and we propose that the interplay of social threat experiences and neural social-affective systems is critical to those pathways. We describe a model of risk and resilience, review supporting evidence, and apply the model to sexual and gender minority adolescents, a population with high disparities in depression and unique social risk factors. This approach illustrates the fundamental role of a socially and developmentally informed clinical neuroscience model for understanding a population disproportionately affected by risk factors and psychopathology outcomes. We consider it a public health imperative to apply conceptual models to high-need populations to elucidate targets for effective interventions to promote healthy development and enhance resilience.

A Longitudinal Person-Centered Examination of Affinity for Aloneness Among Children and Adolescents

Affinity for aloneness among youth often is viewed negatively. However, some youth may enjoy solitude for positive reasons, rather than because of social anxiety. The prevalence and adjustment over time of youth with high affinity for aloneness is unclear. Groups of children (N = 605, M_age  = 9.29) and adolescents (N = 596, M_age  = 12.20) were identified using affinity for aloneness and social anxiety scores, and group differences in adjustment were assessed. Latent class analyses revealed four groups at T1 and T2 for both samples. Among these were Normative (Low.affinity_for_aloneness-Low.social_anxiety) and Affinity for Aloneness (High.affinity_for_aloneness-LowMod.social_anxiety) groups. These groups did not differ longitudinally in adjustment. Having elevated levels of affinity for aloneness without high social anxiety is relatively benign.

Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use: The Mediating Role of Escape Motivation and the Moderating Role of Shyness

In an attempt to reduce the negative consequences of adolescent media use, parents often monitor their children's online activities. However, research suggests that parental monitoring often does not reduce children's problematic mobile phone use as expected. Based on the results of a survey of 584 Chinese adolescents, we found that parental monitoring positively predicted children's problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) within a Chinese cultural context. The results also showed that children's escape motivation partially mediated this relationship, while their level of shyness moderated both the mediated path and the direct impact of parental monitoring on children's PMPU. The findings suggested that a higher level of shyness increased the likelihood that parental monitoring would increase the child's escape motivation and PMPU. The study results provide guidelines for parents and educators regarding interventions for adolescents' problematic phone use.

Prosocial Behavior and Friendship Quality as Moderators of the Association Between Anxious Withdrawal and Peer Experiences in Portuguese Young Adolescents

Anxious withdrawal has been associated consistently with adverse peer experiences. However, research has also shown that there is significant heterogeneity among anxiously withdrawn youth. Further, extant research has focused primarily on negative peer experiences and outcomes; little is known about the more successful social experiences of anxiously withdrawn youth. We explored the possibility that the association between anxious withdrawal and group-level peer outcomes (exclusion, victimization, and popularity) might be moderated by peer-valued behaviors (prosocial behavior), friendship relational attributes, and sex, even after accounting for the effects of being involved in a reciprocal best friendship. Peer nominations of psychosocial functioning, and self-reports of best friendships and friendship quality were collected in a community sample of 684 Portuguese young adolescents. Regression analyses revealed that more anxious withdrawn adolescents showed worst group-level peer outcomes, but that: (a) prosocial behavior buffered the positive association between anxious-withdrawal and peer exclusion, particularly for boys; (b) higher friendship quality was associated with lower risk of peer victimization for more anxious-withdrawn girls, but with a higher risk for more anxious withdrawn boys; and (c) higher friendship conflict buffered the positive association between anxious withdrawal and peer exclusion for boys. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of peer-valued characteristics on the peer group experiences of anxiously withdrawn young adolescents.