Children's reasons for nominating their peers as withdrawn: Passive withdrawal versus active isolation.

Abstract

This study examined children's 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. For 3 of the items ("Someone who would rather play alone than with others," "Someone who is very shy," and "Someone whose feelings get hurt easily"), the children's reasons were predominantly based on passive withdrawal, whereas for 3 others ("Someone who is often left out," "Someone who has trouble making friends," and "A person who cant get others to listen"), they were predominantly based on active isolation. Reasons for the remaining item ("Someone who is usually sad") were split equally between both alternatives.

Conceptions of aggression and withdrawal in early childhood

“…The present study focuses on one type of withdrawal, passive withdrawal, which is distinct from active isolation (Rubin and Mills, 1988;Younger and Daniels, 1992 …”

“…Such beliefs are important to consider because they have implications for children's contributions to the identification and diagnosis of troubled peers (see Younger and Daniels, 1992), and also because they may affect the way children treat peers with behavioural difficulties (Graham and Hoehn, 1995;Maas et al, 1978; see also Hacking, 1995). …”

Paralinguistic cues in the speech of withdrawn children

“…Instead, the construct of social withdrawal in school-aged children refers to a more heterogeneous population made up of active isolation and passive withdrawal. Differentiating between passive withdrawal and active isolation is vital because although both types of behavioural constellations would be considered "non-social" in that there is reduced social interaction with peers, passive withdrawal is associated more often with shy or reticent behaviour whereas active isolation refers to more overt ostracization from the peer group (Younger & Daniels, 1992). Contemporary sociometric techniques have each child identify classmates who are "very shy" and "who would rather play alone" (the two items on the RCP that best describe the behavioural characteristics of passive withdrawal as defined by Younger & Daniels, 1992).…”

“…Mean pause duration shown to be a valid instrument in sociometric nomination procedures (Younger & Daniels, 1992). The children were provided with a class list and were asked to indicate three (or more if preferred) class mates who best fit each behavioural description (see Appendix A) .…”

“…Other techniques involve parental ratings of children's behaviour. Yet, the consensus is that since peers are involved with each other in daily social interactions, they are the best assessors of peer standing or what is referred to in the literature as sociometric status (Coie, Dodge, & Kuperschmidt, 1990, Masten, Morison, & Pelligrini, 1985Younger & Daniels, 1992).…”