Assessment and implications of social withdrawal in early childhood: A first look at social avoidance

Abstract

The goals of the present research were to: (a) develop and provide preliminary validation of a parent-rated measure of social avoidance in early childhood; and (b) to evaluate a conceptual model of the direct and indirect links among young children's social withdrawal

Active emotion regulation mediates links between shyness and social adjustment in preschool

“…For instance, research in North America found that shy preschoolers frequently opt to play alone in the presence of peers and, consequently, may be more excluded by peers (Coplan, Ooi, Rose‐Krasnor, & Nocita, ; Ooi, Baldwin, Coplan, & Rose‐Krasnor, ). Shy preschoolers also tend to display more internalizing problems, such as anxious‐withdrawn behaviors and depressive symptoms (Coplan, Ooi, Xiao, & Rose‐Krasnor, ; Kopala‐Sibley & Klein, ; Sette, Zava, Baumgartner, Baiocco, & Coplan, ). Furthermore, shyness (behavioral inhibition) is a risk factor for later social anxiety disorder (Clauss & Blackford, ), and stable, increasing levels of shyness in a longitudinal study of Norwegian children were found to predict symptoms of anxiety and depression in adolescence (Karevold, Ystrøm, Coplan, Sanson, & Mathiesen, ).…”

What are They Thinking? Examining Complex Links Among Social Withdrawal, Maladaptive Cognitions, and Internalizing Problems in Children and Emerging Adults

“…Findings from more recent work suggest that there may indeed be a number of reasons why individuals withdraw from the peer group (Coplan, Ooi, & Nocita, 2015). Importantly, withdrawal characterized by different social motivational substrates appear to be differentially associated with socio-emotional adjustment Coplan, Ooi, Xiao, & Rose-Krasnor, 2018;Nelson, 2013). For example, whereas unsociability (i.e., a non-fearful preference for solitude) appears to be a relatively benign form of withdrawal, shyness is associated with socio-emotional maladjustment, including heightened feelings of social anxiety.…”

“…For example, whereas unsociability (i.e., a non-fearful preference for solitude) appears to be a relatively benign form of withdrawal, shyness is associated with socio-emotional maladjustment, including heightened feelings of social anxiety. Social avoidance appears to be associated with the most pervasive socio-emotional difficulties, and may be uniquely linked to symptoms of depression (Coplan & Armer, 2007;Coplan, Ooi, Xiao, et al, 2018;. As such, it is important to identify the possible mechanisms through which subtypes of socially withdrawn youth may (or may not) develop internalizing problems.…”

“…Although both anxiety and depressive symptoms are highly prevalent by early adulthood Kessler, Avenevoli, & Ries Merikangas, 2001), they also appear to display decidedly different cognitive and emotional features (Ambrose & Rholes, 1993;Schniering & Rapee, 2004). Given that subtypes of social withdrawal appear to be differentially associated with internalizing problems (Coplan, Ooi, Xiao, et al, 2018), it is possible that the specific cognitive features uniquely associated with anxiety and depression might have an impact on the proposed mediated pathway. For example, it may be that shy youth become anxious mainly due to maladaptive cognitive patterns implicated in models of anxiety (Weeks et al, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, although originally developed as a model of childhood social behaviour, researchers have begun to apply Asendorpf's model to adolescents and emerging adults (e.g., Bowker, Stotsky, & Etkin, 2017;Bowker & Raja, 2011;Nelson, 2013;Nelson, Coyne, Howard, & Clifford., 2016). Accordingly, this has resulted in the development of several new assessment tools designed to measure subtypes of social withdrawal across childhood and into emerging adulthood in recent years (e.g., Bowker & Raja, 2011;Bowker et al, 2017;Coplan, Ooi, Xiao, et al, 2018;Coplan, Prakash, O'Neil, & Armer, 2004;Kim et al, 2008;Nelson, 2013). Nonetheless, there remains much to be understood about the predictors, correlates, and outcomes of the subtypes of social withdrawal, particularly social avoidance.…”