The mutual best friendships of shy/withdrawn and control children were examined for prevalence, stability, best friend's characteristics, and friendship quality. Using peer nominations of shy/ socially withdrawn and aggressive behaviors, two groups of children were identified from a normative sample of fifth-grade children: shy/withdrawn (n = 169) and control (nonaggressive/ nonwithdrawn; n = 163). Friendship nominations, teacher reports, and friendship quality data were gathered. Results revealed that shy/withdrawn children were as likely as control children to have mutual stable best friendships. Withdrawn children's friends were more withdrawn and victimized than were the control children's best friends; further, similarities in social withdrawal and peer victimization were revealed for withdrawn children and their friends. Withdrawn children and their friends reported lower friendship quality than did control children. Results highlight the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measures of friendship when considering relationships as risk and/or protective factors.Keywords social withdrawal; friendship; adjustment Long ago, Jean Piaget and Harry Stack Sullivan posited that peer relationships provide children with a unique context for emotional and social development (Piaget, 1932;Sullivan, 1953). Piaget maintained that the symmetrical power relationship unique to peer relationships afforded children the opportunity to develop perspective-taking abilities, social competence, and advanced moral reasoning. Sullivan emphasized the intimacy of children's same-gender chumships, arguing that such intimacy promotes identity development and contributes to later successes in romantic relationships. The implication of their arguments was that children who were not involved in peer relationships would miss out on developmental opportunities important for positive adjustment and growth (Rubin, Burgess, Kennedy, & Stewart, 2003).Today, the peer relationships literature supports Piaget's and Sullivan's early contentions, clearly demonstrating the significance of peer relationships, particularly friendships, in children's emotional and social development (see Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript development of perspective-taking and moral reasoning skills (e.g., McGuire & Weisz, 1982). Friendship also has been positively associated with measures of self-esteem and feelings of general self-worth (e.g., Bagwell, Newcomb, & Bukowski, 1998) and is considered an important source of social support, particularly under potentially stressful situations (Berndt & Keefe, 1995;Ladd, 1990). Further, researchers have shown that friendship can protect children from the negative externalizing and internalizing "costs" associated with peer victimization (e.g., Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999).It also has been shown that children who are without close peer relationships altogether or those who have difficulties with their peers, often experience ...

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Consistent with much of the research literature, social competence is defined as effectiveness in social interaction. Effectiveness is broadly considered, and includes both self and other perspectives. Social competence is viewed as an organizing construct, with transactional, context‐dependent, and goal‐specific characteristics. Four general approaches to the operational definition of social competence are identified: social skills, sociometric status, relationships, and functional outcomes. A Prism Model of social competence is presented, based on theoretical, index and skills levels of analyses. The implications of the Prism Model for developmental, gender, cultural, assessment and intervention issues are also discussed.

The primary goals of this study were to test a conceptual model linking social approach and avoidance motivations, socially withdrawn behaviors, and peer difficulties in later childhood and to compare the socioemotional functioning of different subtypes of withdrawn children (shy, unsociable, avoidant). Participants were 367 children, aged 9-12 years. Measures included assessments of social motivations (i.e., self-reported shyness and preference for solitude) and social withdrawal (observations of solitary behaviors in the schoolyard and self-reports of solitary activities outside of school), as well as self-and parent-reported peer difficulties and internalizing problems. Among the results, both shyness and preference for solitude were associated with socially withdrawn behaviors, which in turn predicted peer difficulties. However, only shyness (but not preference for solitude) also displayed a direct path to peer difficulties. As well, results from person-oriented analyses indicated that different subtypes of socially withdrawn children displayed decidedly different profiles with regard to indices of internalizing problems. For example, whereas unsociable children did not differ from their nonwithdrawn peers on indices of internalizing problems, socially avoidant (i.e., high in both shyness and unsociability) children reported the most pervasive socioemotional difficulties. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications of different forms of social withdrawal for socioemotional functioning in later childhood.

Fifth-graders' (N = 162; 93 girls) relationships with parents and friends were examined with respect to their main and interactive effects on psychosocial functioning. Participants reported on parental support, the quality of their best friendships, self-worth, and perceptions of social competence. Peers reported on aggression, shyness and withdrawal, and rejection and victimization. Mothers reported on psychological adjustment. Perceived parental support and friendship quality predicted higher global self-worth and social competence and less internalizing problems. Perceived parental support predicted fewer externalizing problems, and paternal (not maternal) support predicted lower rejection and victimization. Friendship quality predicted lower rejection and victimization for only girls. Having a supportive mother protected boys from the effects of low-quality friendships on their perceived social competence. High friendship quality buffered the effects of low maternal support on girls' internalizing difficulties.Keywords friendship; parent-child relationships; attachment; social withdrawal; aggression From the earliest years of childhood, children develop significant relationships with family members and, with increasing age, their peers. Over the years, researchers have examined the influence that children's experiences with these relationships may have on their functioning. Links have been established between parent-child relationship quality and adjustment during the pre-, elementary, and middle school years as well as later adolescence (see Rubin & Burgess, 2002, for a relevant review). Likewise, aspects of children's peer relationships and friendships have been associated with psychosocial functioning. Recently, researchers have examined relations between relationship systems and the manner in which experiences in both familial and extrafamilial relationships may interact to influence psychosocial functioning. The focus of this study was on parent-youth adolescent and friendship relationships and whether and how friendships serve to moderate the association between parent-adolescent relationship quality and psychosocial functioning. NIH Public Access An Attachment FrameworkAlthough there are a number of ways in which relationships with parents may influence relationships with friends and psychosocial functioning, our framework in the present study is based on premises drawn from attachment theory. According to attachment theorists, the child who receives responsive and sensitive parenting from the primary caregiver forms an internal working model of that caregiver as trustworthy and dependable when needed and develops a model of the self as someone who is worthy of such care (Bowlby, 1973(Bowlby, , 1982. Through experience with a responsive and sensitive caregiver, the child learns reciprocity in social interactions (Elicker, Englund, & Sroufe, 1992) and a set of specific social skills that can be used in relationships that extend beyond the child-caregiver relationship. Also, the securely attac...