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From a sample of 567 kindergartners observed during free play, 150 children were classified as socially withdrawn and followed over 4 years. A cluster analysis involving teacher ratings was used to identify subtypes of withdrawn children. Four clusters were identified, 3 fitting profiles found in the literature and labeled unsociable (n = 96), passive-anxious (n = 23), and active-isolate (n = 19), and 1 typically not discussed, labeled sad/depressed (n = 12). Sociometric ratings indicated that unsociable children had elevated rates of sociometric neglect, active-isolates had higher than expected levels of rejection, and sad/depressed children had elevated rates of both neglect and rejection. Subtypes also differed in social information-processing patterns, with active-isolate children displaying the least component skills. The findings that some experience more difficulty than others might account for the ambiguity in extant studies regarding whether or not social withdrawal is a risk factor in psychosocial development, because withdrawal has most often been treated as a unitary construct in the past.

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The current study examined associations between adolescent respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) during an angry event discussion task and adolescents’ emotion regulation and adjustment. Data were collected from 206 adolescents (10–18 years old, M age = 13.37). Electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration data were collected from adolescents, and RSA values and respiration rates were computed. Adolescents reported on their own emotion regulation, prosocial behavior, and aggressive behavior. Multi-level latent growth modeling was employed to capture RSA responses across time (i.e., linear and quadratic changes; time course approach), and adolescent emotion regulation and adjustment variables were included in the model to test their links to RSA responses. Results indicated that high RSA baseline was associated with more adolescent prosocial behavior. A pattern of initial RSA decreases (RSA suppression) in response to angry event recall and subsequent RSA increases (RSA rebound) were related to better anger and sadness regulation and more prosocial behavior. However, RSA was not significantly linked to adolescent aggressive behavior. We also compared the time course approach with the conventional linear approach and found that the time course approach provided more meaningful and rich information. The implications of adaptive RSA change patterns are discussed.