Alastair J. Younger

Children's reasons for nominating their peers as withdrawn: Passive withdrawal versus active isolation.

This study examined childrens reasons for choosing peers for the withdrawal items on the Revised Class Play (RCP). Eighty-eight elementary-school children nominated peers they felt were best described by each RCP item. Reasons for their nominations were classified into 2 categories: passive withdrawal from and active isolation by the peer group

The Influence of the Evaluator on Assessments of Children’s Social Skills

In the field of assessment of social skills, a great deal of attention has been paid to the issue of what behaviors or skills to assess, while relatively little attention has been paid to the question of who should do the assessing. In the absence of consensual agreement as to what constitutes social competence (Anderson & Messick, 1974; Foster & Ritchey, 1979; O’Malley, 1977), which might foster the development of a more objective index, most individuals in the field have relied upon the judgments of significant others in the natural environment, often in combination. It is our contention that the type of evaluator that we choose can have important implications for the picture of social skills that emerges. It is also our contention that we have too little information at present on the impact of the type of evaluator to allow for unambiguous interpretations of our data.

A Behaviour-Based Peer-Nomination Measure of Social Withdrawal in Children

Research on social withdrawal has been impeded by problems in the definition of the construct and in its measurement. The purpose of this study was to develop a behaviourally-based peer-nomination measure useful in measuring two types of withdrawal: Inhibited/Wary and Self-Conscious/Anxious. In Study 1, we report the development of the measure. We examined whether this two-factor structure would be supported by data obtained from multiple informants. Data were collected from children in grades 3, 5, and 7, and their peers and teachers. Intercorrelations of peer-, teacher-, and self-reports of the Behaviour-Based Peer-Nomination Measures of social withdrawal supported the validity of the Inhibited/Wary dimension; teacher-peer agreement also provided support for the validity of the Self-Conscious/Anxious dimension. In Study2, the Behaviour-Based Peer-Nomination Measure of Social Withdrawal was cross-validated against observed play behaviour with 120 boys and girls. Results revealed some concordances between observational and peer-nomination data.

A Comparison of Middle Class English-Canadian and Italian Mothers’ Beliefs about Children’s Peer-directed Aggression and Social Withdrawal

Middle class mothers of 7-year-olds in Canada and Italy were presented hypothetical scenarios depicting children being aggressive or socially withdrawn. The mothers were asked to indicate how they thought the behaviour was caused, how they would feel if their child displayed it, and what socialisation strategies they would use in reacting to it. Most mothers in both countries indicated that they would resort to moderate to high levels of power assertion in response to children’s aggressive behaviour and responses of low to moderate power in cases of children’s social withdrawal. The Canadian mothers indicated that they would experience generally stronger emotional responses with regard to both types of problematic social behaviour in children. Italian mothers indicated that they would use lower levels of power in response to social withdrawal of girls than boys. These results are considered in the light of known differences in value placed on individual initiative between the two countries, and national differences in gender role expectations.

A longitudinal exploration of the cross-contextual stability of social withdrawal in early adolescence.

The purpose for the present study was to determine the stability across time and social setting of the social withdrawal of early adolescents. Nominations by school peers for social withdrawal were stable across a 3-year period. Daily activity logs completed by parents indicated considerable stability for participation in large-group activities with peers in the community, but not for activities involving smaller groups of peers. Participants nominated as socially withdrawn by their schoolmates were involved less extensively in activities with peers in home and community environments than were other participants. Participants from families of higher socioeconomic status (SES) participated more frequently in home and community social activities with peers than did participants from lower SES homes, especially in large-group activities. These results indicated that social withdrawal during early adolescence is consistent across settings and stable over time, especially for the subgroup of early adolescents who are the most withdrawn socially.

Self-Schemas, Anxiety, Somatic and Depressive Symptoms in Socially Withdrawn Children and Adolescents

Abstract The present study examined the hypothesis that negative self-schemas and a range of internalizing problems may be associated with social withdrawal in late childhood and early adolescence. Using in-school peer nominations from the Revised Class Play, 132 eleven- to thirteen-year-olds were classified as withdrawn (n = 40; 22 girls, 18 boys), aggressive (n = 41; 21 girls, 20 boys), or normative control (n = 51; 28 girls, 23 boys). Children completed a self-referent rating task (SRRT), as well as the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The groups were compared in terms of their YSR scores for internalizing problem subtypes, as well as their endorsement and recall of positive and negative descriptors from the SRRT. Compared to the other groups, socially withdrawn children/ adolescents reported higher levels of each internalizing problem–that is, shy/withdrawn behaviors, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and somatic problems. Furthermore, although differences in recall for SRRT positive and negative descriptors were not found, socially withdrawn children endorsed fewer positive descriptors and more negative descriptors than did the normative control and aggressive groups. Moreover, fewer positive self-perceptions were a stronger discriminator between the groups than were more negative self-perceptions. These findings were interpreted within a risk/protective framework of adjustment.