Avoiding and Withdrawing from the Peer Group

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Avoiding and Withdrawing from the Peer Group

Kenneth H. Rubin1, Julie C. Bowker2, & Amy E. Kennedy1

1 University of Maryland

2 University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Kenneth H. Rubin, Ph.D.

Department of Human Development

University of Maryland

3304 Benjamin Building

College Park, Maryland 20742-1131

Phone: (301) 405-0458

Fax: (301) 405-7735

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Avoiding and Withdrawing from the Peer Group

In many ways this chapter concerns a topic unlike most that appear in this Handbook. Rather than

focusing on the ways in which children and adolescents may interact with their peers, this chapter is

centered on those children who, for whatever reason, engage rarely in peer interaction. As noted

throughout this Handbook, children who are socially engaging and competent interact with peers in

ways that allow the establishment and maintenance of positive relationships. Such children fare well

in their social and academic lives. Alternatively, their socially unskilled counterparts often suffer

from peer rejection, friendlessness, and loneliness; furthermore, they are thought to be at risk for a

wide range of socioemotional and academic difficulties. In this chapter, we focus on children who

avoid and rarely interact with their peers and who suffer deeply for their withdrawal.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

For at least two decades, researchers have argued that children who do not have adequate or

“typical” peer interactions and peer relationship experiences may be at risk for later maladjustment.

Such a conclusion has been reinforced by studies demonstrating that peer rejection in childhood

predicts psychopathology and school drop-out, among other negative consequences in adolescence

and adulthood (see Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006 for a relevant review). From a purely clinical

perspective, available evidence suggests that poor peer relationships are common reasons for

children’s referrals to child specialists. For example, Achenbach and Edelbrock (1981) reported that

30-to-75 percent of children (depending on age) referred to guidance clinics were reported by their

mothers to experience peer difficulties (e.g., poor social skills, aggression). And peer difficulties are

roughly twice as common among clinic children as among non-referred children.

The group of children generally considered at highest risk for later psychiatric difficulty

comprises mainly those whose interactions may best be described as hostile and aggressive.

Aggressive children are often portrayed as emotionally dysregulated, atypical in the ways they think

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about social interactions and events, inaccurate in the ways they think about themselves and their

social relationships, disruptive at home and school, and behaviorally agonistic in an often bullying

manner (see Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, 2006 for a recent review). As it happens, one of the strongest

correlates and predictors of peer rejection is aggressive behavior. Moreover, the emotional,

cognitive, and self-system “baggage” that accompanies aggressive behaviors also predicts peer

rejection. Thus, there appears to be a clear link between the frequency with which children display

agonistic behavior and the establishment and maintenance of a negative peer reputation (Rubin,

Bukowski, et al., 2006). Despite their agonistic inclinations, however, aggressive children have

friends and are often members of cliques and peer networks. Their friends tend to resemble them

behaviorally and the networks they are involved in likewise comprise angry, aggressive peers (see

Dishion, this Handbook). In these latter regards, aggressive behavior may be maintained and

reinforced through the process of active deviancy training (Dishion, McCord, & Poulin, 1999).

For many years, it was posited that the straightest route to peer rejection and other related

peer difficulties began with aggressive behavior (e.g., refer to special issues/sections of Child

Development and the Merrill-Palmer Quarterly in 1983!). More recently, however, a strong case has been

made for the significance of social withdrawal in predicting negative peer concomitants and

outcomes. This literature is reviewed herein.

CENTRAL ISSUES: CONSTRUCT DEFINITION

The construct of social withdrawal has many “faces” or forms and subtypes (Rubin & Mills, 1988),

and over the years, such terms of reference as social withdrawal, social isolation, shyness (fearful and self-

conscious), and behavioral inhibition have been used interchangeably. Whereas these constructs may be

related conceptually and statistically, they are not equivalent. As we have indicated elsewhere (e.g.,

Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993; Rubin & Coplan, 2004; Rubin, Burgess, & Coplan, 2002) inhibition may be

defined as the disposition to display fearful, anxious behaviors in unfamiliar contexts. Fearful shyness

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represents inhibited behavior in the face of social novelty. Self-conscious shyness, which is thought to

emerge between the ages of 4-5, refers to the display of socially wary behavior evoked by

intrapersonal concerns of being negatively evaluated by others. Finally, social withdrawal refers to the

consistent (across situations and over time) display of solitary behavior when encountering familiar

and/or unfamiliar peers. The common thread binding each of these constructs is that the thought or

presence of social company evokes reactions of fear or anxiety which result in attempts to cope or

self-regulate through socially restrained or avoidant behavior. Indeed, anxious-solitude is a recent term

that denotes social withdrawal resulting from fear or anxiety (e.g., Gazelle & Ladd, 2003).

Importantly, not all forms of solitary behavior are elicited by fear or anxiety. For example,

the experience of social rejection can result in being isolated by and removed from the group. In this

regard, aggressive children may evidence solitude in groups that reject them (e.g., Hymel, Rubin,

Rowden, & LeMare, 1990). Other children appear to prefer solitude and lack the desire to engage

others in social interaction. These children have been described as “unsociable” (Asendorpf, 1993)

or “socially disinterested” (Coplan, Prakash, O’Neil, & Armer, 2004). They appear to possess a low

motivation to approach others as well as a low motivation to avoid social interaction (Asendorpf,

1993). In early childhood, these children tend to engage in solitary play marked by the quiescent,

often sedentary exploration and construction of objects; at the same time, for many young children,

this type of quiet, constructive solitude is not associated with either peer rejection or psychological

maladaptation (Rubin, Coplan, Fox, & Calkins, 1995). Beyond the preschool years, however,

unsociable children may experience increased peer and psychological difficulties when

developmental norms move in the direction of increased social interactive behavior and their

behavior becomes viewed as socially inappropriate (Asendorpf, 1993; Rubin & Coplan, 2004).

Solitude that results from social disinterest has been contrasted with the display of anxious,

reticent behavior, which appears to reflect an approach-avoidance conflict; reticent children watch

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others from afar and, at the same time, they appear to desire the companionship of others (e.g.,

Asendorpf, 1993; Coplan et al., 2004). Unlike solitary exploration and construction (indicators of

social disinterest), reticence both reflects and predicts peer rejection and psychosocial maladjustment

(e.g., Rubin, Chen, McDougall, Bowker, & McKinnon, 1995). Significantly, little attention has been

paid to different forms of social withdrawal beyond the early childhood years, an issue to which we return

in the final section of this chapter.

In light of findings documenting significant, negative psychosocial correlates and

consequences of social withdrawal (see Rubin, Burgess, Kennedy, & Stewart, 2003 for a review), it

seems particularly important to not only understand its concomitants and consequences, but also its

origins. Thus, in this chapter, we begin with a brief review of relevant theory followed by a

description of factors that predict solitary behavior in the peer group. We follow with descriptions

of the peer relationships and friendships of socially withdrawn children and young adolescents, and

the social and emotional consequences of withdrawal. We conclude with a discussion of future

directions.

RELEVANT THEORY

Theoretically derived statements about the etiology and psychological significance of social

withdrawal were practically non-existent until the 1980s (e.g., Rubin, 1982a). Those searching for

relevant theory had to rely on classical writings pertaining to the significance of peer interaction for

normal social, emotional, and cognitive growth. For example, in the early writings of Piaget (1932), it

was posited that children's relationships with peers, unlike their relationships with adults, were

relatively balanced, egalitarian, and fell along a more-or-less horizontal plane of power assertion and

dominance. It was within this egalitarian context that Piaget believed peer interaction provided a

unique cognitive and social-cognitive growth context for children. Piaget focused specifically on the

relevance of disagreements with age-mates and the opportunities for negotiation arising from

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disagreements. These naturally occurring differences of opinion were assumed to engender cognitive

conflict that required both intra- and interpersonal resolution in order for positive peer exchanges

and experiences to occur. The resolution of interpersonal disputes was thought to result in an

enhanced understanding of others’ thoughts and emotions, the broadening of one’s social repertoire

with which to solve interpersonal disputes and misunderstandings, and the comprehension of cause-

effect relations in social interaction.

Empirical support for these notions derived from demonstrations that peer exchange,

conversations, and interactions produced growth in social-cognitive development and social

competence (e.g., Damon & Killen, 1982). Also, in keeping with these theoretically driven findings,

researchers found that perspective-taking skills could be improved through peer interactions,

particularly those experiences that involved role-play. In turn, such improvements predicted

improvements in social competence (e.g., Selman & Schultz, 1990).

Peer interaction also allows children to understand the rules and norms of their peer

subcultures (e.g., Fine, 1987). It is this understanding of norms and normative performance levels

that engenders in the child an ability to evaluate her/his own competency levels against the perceived

standards of the peer group. This latter view concerning self-definition and identity was addressed

over seventy years ago in the writings of George Herbert Mead (1934). In his theory of symbolic

interactionism, Mead suggested that exchanges among peers, whether experienced during

cooperative or competitive activity, or during conflict or friendly discussion, enabled children to

understand the self as both a subject and an object. Understanding that the self could be an object of

others' perspectives gradually evolved into the conceptualization of a 'generalized other' or an

organized and coordinated perspective of the 'social' group. In turn, recognition of the 'generalized

other' led to the emergence of an organized sense of self.

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The classic personality theory of Sullivan (1953) has served as a guide for much research

concerning children's peer relationships and social skills. Like Piaget, Sullivan believed that the

concepts of mutual respect, equality, and reciprocity developed from peer relationships. Sullivan,

however, emphasized the significance of "special" relationships – chumships or best-friendships -- for

the emergence of these concepts. In the early school years, whether friends or not, Sullivan thought

children were basically insensitive to their peers. During the juvenile years (late elementary school),

however, children were thought to be able to recognize and value each other's personal qualities; as a

consequence, peers gained power as personality shaping agents. Sullivan's theory has proved

influential in terms of the contemporary study of children's friendships, (e.g., Furman, Simon,

Shaffer, & Bouchey, 2002) as well as in the understanding of loneliness as a significant motivational

force in development and adjustment. (e.g., Asher & Paquette, 2003).

Learning and social learning theory have also stimulated current research on children's peer

relationships and social skills. It was originally suggested, and it is now known, that children learn

about their social worlds, and how to behave within them, through direct peer tutelage as well as by

observing each other. In this regard, children punish or ignore non-normative social behavior and

reward or reinforce positively those behaviors viewed as culturally appropriate and competent (e.g.,

Dishion et al., 1999).

Taken together, these theories and the data supportive of them have led psychologists to

conclude that peer interactions and relationships are essential for normal social-cognitive and socio-

emotional development. But these theories are focused on the putative benefits of peer interactions

and relationships. They “speak to” the development of competent behavioral styles and adaptive

extra-familial relationships. The theories offer little with regard to establishing how insufficient or

deficient interactions and relationships can lead to maladaptive behavioral styles or non-existent or

dysfunctional extra-familial relationships. And yet, if peer interaction does lead to the development

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of social competencies and the understanding of the self in relation to others, it seems reasonable to

ponder the developmental consequences for those children who refrain from social interaction and

avoid the company of their peers. It is this reasonable thought that drives much of the current

research on social withdrawal.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, current research on social withdrawal is also guided by

Hinde’s model of relationships. In this model, social withdrawal can be considered an individual

characteristic that influences the presence or absence and quality of social exchanges (interactions) and

relationships (e.g., friendship). This characteristic is also likely to influence the individual’s reputation

and standing in the peer group (e.g., peer rejection). Thus, Hinde’s (1987) conceptual model serves as

a useful heuristic to present central lines of inquiry and major research findings regarding children

who avoid and withdraw from the peer group. A more detailed description of the research on the

developmental course of social withdrawal, as it is influenced by Hinde’s model is presented below.

KEY CLASSICAL AND MODERN RESEARCH STUDIES: BIOLOGICAL AND

PARENTING FACTORS

The Development of Social Withdrawal: The Contribution of Biology

To begin with a focus on the individual in Hinde’s model, there is ample evidence to suggest that

different forms of social withdrawal have varying biological and genetic roots. For example, to

Kagan and collaborators (e.g., Kagan, Snidman, & Arcus, 1993), some infants are genetically hard-

wired with a physiology that biases them to be cautious, timid, and wary in unfamiliar social and

nonsocial situations. It is contended that "inhibited" children differ from their uninhibited

counterparts in ways that imply variability in the threshold of excitability of the amygdala and its

projections to the cortex, hypothalamus, sympathetic nervous system, corpus striatum, and central

gray. In support of the argument that inhibition has a genetic basis, Hariri and colleagues (2002)

reported that the presence of the short 5 HT allele was associated with greater functioning of the

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amygdala in response to fearful stimuli, but the same was not true for those individuals possessing

the long 5 HT allele (Hariri et al., 2002). The functioning of the amygdala has long been associated

with the display of inhibited behavior across species (e.g., Schwartz, Wright, Shin, Kagan, & Rauch,

2003).

Consistent with the argument that there is a biological basis to social wariness and inhibition is

research that indicates a pattern of greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry associated with the

display of behavioral inhibition in infancy (Calkins, Fox, & Marshall, 1996) and social reticence

during the preschool years (Fox et al., 1995). Relatedly, Fox and colleagues (2001) found that

continuously inhibited children (high on behavioral inhibition at 14 or 24 months and high on social

reticence at four years) exhibited a pattern of greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry at 9

months, 14 months, and four years when compared to those children who did not remain

continuously inhibited (high on behavioral inhibition at 14 or 24 months and low on social reticence

at four years; Fox, Henderson, Rubin, Calkins, & Schmidt, 2001). These links between EEG

asymmetry and shy-reticent behavior have been documented in middle childhood as well (e.g.,

Schmidt, Fox, Schulkin, & Gold, 1999).

Variations in the functioning of the autonomic nervous system have also been correlated

with the display of shy/wary behavior in early childhood. For instance, lower cardiac vagal tone (an

index of emotion dysregulation) is contemporaneously and predictively associated with the display

of behavioral inhibition and socially reticent behavior in early childhood (Rubin, Hastings, Stewart,

Henderson, & Chen, 1997). More recently, Henderson, Marshall, Fox, and Rubin (2004) found that

two types of solitude (reticence and solitary-passive behavior) were associated with a pattern of

greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry. However, reticent children were rated by their

mothers to be more socially fearful and displayed lower cardiac vagal tone than those children who

were observed to spend time exploring and constructing on their own whilst in social company

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(solitary-passive behavior). In further support of an underlying biological constitution of socially

inhibited and reticent behavior, Hastings, Rubin and DeRose (2005) found that observed inhibition,

maternal reports of social fearfulness, and cardiac vagal tone loaded on a single factor (with cardiac

vagal tone loading negatively) at two years of age. Finally, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical

(HPA) axis is thought be activated during stressful or novel situations. Researchers have

demonstrated that elevated cortisol (a stress hormone) is associated with the demonstration of

behavioral inhibition (Spangler & Schieche, 1998) and social reticence (Schmidt et al., 1997) in early

childhood.

The Development of Social Withdrawal: The Contributions of Parents

Although there is evidence supporting a genetic or biological origin of shy-anxious social

withdrawal, there also exists evidence implicating such distal factors as parenting style and the quality

of the parent-child relationship in the development and maintenance of withdrawn behavioral

patterns. Briefly, several researchers have found a contemporaneous and predictive link between

insecure attachment status and the display of behaviorally inhibited behavior (e.g., Calkins & Fox,

1992). It bears noting, however, that insecure attachment relationships are also predicted by maternal

behavior. For example, mothers of insecurely attached ‘C’ babies are overinvolved and

overcontrolling compared to mothers of securely attached babies (Erickson, Sroufe, & Egeland,

1985). It is this overcontrolling, intrusive, and overly protective parenting style that is strongly

associated, contemporaneously and predictively, with behavioral inhibition (e.g., Rubin et al., 1997;

Rubin, Burgess, & Hastings, 2002) and socially withdrawn and reticent behavior (Coplan et al., 2004;

Mills & Rubin, 1998; Rubin, Cheah, & Fox, 2001; Rubin & Mills, 1990, 1991). It has been suggested

that such parenting practices not only reinforce anxious-withdrawn behavior but also may negatively

impact the child’s sense of self-worth and autonomy.

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Of course, children’s social reticence and anxious-withdrawal may also cause parental

overprotection and overcontrol (Hastings & Rubin, 1999; Rubin, Nelson, Hastings, & Asendorpf,

1999). Sensing their young child's difficulties in social situations, some parents may try to provide

support by manipulating their child's social behaviors in a power assertive, highly directive fashion

(telling the child how to act or what to do). Conversely, any expression of social fearfulness in the

peer group may evoke parental feelings of concern, sympathy, and perhaps a growing sense of

frustration. The parent may begin to believe that their child is vulnerable and must be helped in

some way (Rubin & Burgess, 2002). Such a "read" of the child may be guided by a developing belief

system that social withdrawal is dispositionally-based, that it is accompanied by debilitating child

feelings of fear and social anxiety, and that it is accompanied by behaviors that evoke, in peers,

attempts to be socially dominant. The resultant parental behavior, guided by the processing of affect

and historically- and situationally-based information, may be of a "quick fix" variety. To release the

child from social discomfort, the parent may simply "take over" by telling the child what to do and

how to do it (Rubin et al., 1999). Alternatively, the parent may simply solve the child's social

dilemmas by asking other children for information desired by the child, obtaining objects desired by

the child, or requesting that peers allow the child to join them in play. These parenting behaviors are

likely to reinforce the child's feelings of insecurity, resulting in the maintenance of a cycle of child

hopelessness/helplessness and parent overcontrol/overprotection (Mills & Rubin, 1993). Moreover,

allowing the child to avoid feared social behaviors may, over time, prevent the child from attaining

developmentally-appropriate social competencies.

In summary, we have painted a portrait of mothers (and fathers, Rubin et al., 1999) of

socially reticent and anxiously-withdrawn children as endorsing and practicing intrusive, controlling,

and overprotective parenting strategies that are likely detrimental to the child's developing senses of

autonomy and social efficacy. Such parenting beliefs and behaviors are not conducive to the

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development of social competence or positive self-regard. Indeed, research has shown that an

overprotective, overly-concerned parenting style is associated with submissiveness, dependency, and

timidity in early childhood- characteristics which are typical of socially children and that may

increase the likelihood of problematic peer relations (Olweus, 1993). We will expand on this point in

the sections below wherein we focus on the peer relationships of socially withdrawn children.

KEY CLASSICAL AND MODERN RESEARCH STUDIES: PEER INTERACTIONS

AND RELATIONSHIPS

Peer Interactions

Drawing from Hinde’s model, the term “interaction” is reserved for dyadic behavior in which the

participants' actions are interdependent such that each actor's behavior is both a response to, and

stimulus for, the other participant’s behavior (Rubin, Bukowski, et al., 2006). At its core, an

interaction comprises "such incidents as Individual A shows behavior X to Individual B, or A shows

X to B and B responds with Y" (Hinde, 1979, p.15). Researchers have typically focused on three

general forms of interactions: (1) movement toward others, (2) movement against others, and (3)

movement away from others (Rubin, Bukowski, et al., 2006). Whilst important individual differences

in the extent and nature of social interactions exist at all ages, children who move toward others are

considered sociable or out-going, children who move against others are typically characterized as

aggressive (due to the confrontational nature of their behavior), and children who move away from

others are considered socially withdrawn (e.g., Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1988).

By moving away from others, withdrawn children and young adolescents interact less with

their peers and spend more time on the periphery of the social scene than do their non-socially

withdrawn counterparts. For example, socially reticent behavior is defined by the frequent display of

watching others from afar and by aimless wandering when among peers (Coplan, Rubin,

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Fox, Calkins, & Stewart, 1994). Given that social reticence and withdrawal is often accompanied by

felt anxiety in both familiar and unfamiliar social situations (Asendorpf, 1990; Coplan & Rubin,

1998), it should not be surprising that reticent preschoolers and socially withdrawn elementary

schoolers direct fewer social overtures to peers than their more sociable counterparts (Chen,

DeSouza, Chen, & Wang, 2006; Coplan et al., 1994; Rubin, 1985; Stewart & Rubin, 1995). Also the

forms that their overtures take differ from those of non-withdrawn peers. For instance, it has been

shown that withdrawn children are less likely than non-withdrawn children to make requests of their

peers that require them to carry out action requiring both effort and mobility (Rubin & Borwick,

1984; Rubin & Krasnor, 1986; Stewart & Rubin, 1995). Moreover, withdrawn children are less

inclined, than children of average sociability, to produce socially assertive strategies (e.g., commands)

and more likely to employ subtle, indirect means to attain their social goals (e.g., indirect requests).

This pattern of social initiation suggests that children identified as withdrawn are less assertive with

and also less demanding of their peers than their more sociable counterparts (Rubin, 1985; Rubin &

Borwick, 1984; Stewart & Rubin, 1995).

When socially withdrawn children do make requests of their peers, they are more likely than

their more sociable agemates to be met by peer refusal and rejection (e.g., Chen et al., 2006; Nelson,

Rubin, & Fox, 2005; Rubin & Krasnor, 1986; Stewart & Rubin, 1995). And importantly, as children

move from early to middle childhood, withdrawn children become increasingly less assertive as well

as less successful in their attempts to meet their social goals (Stewart & Rubin, 1995). This increasing

lack of social assertiveness may be due to repeated peer rejection and/or to a "feedback loop,"

wherein the initially fearful and withdrawn youngster comes to believe that her/his social failures are

internally based, which is strengthened by the increasing failure of her/his social initiatives.

The failure to obtain peer compliance and collegiality with peers predicts the development of

negative self-perceptions of social skills and peer relationships (Boivin & Hymel, 1997; Boivin, Hymel,

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& Bukowski, 1995; Nelson et al., 2005). That is, “real life” peer rejection (e.g., non-compliance)

predicts negative thoughts and feelings about the self. Importantly, socially withdrawn children’s

self-perceptions are quite accurate; that is, they are well aware of their social difficulties. This is

especially true of withdrawn children who are also unpopular (Hymel, Bowker, & Woody, 1993).

The interactional style of anxious-withdrawn children suggests a negative, if not miserable

cycle of anxious attempts to join others, followed by the actual, and felt experience of rejection or

neglect, followed by reasonable surmising that the self is less than worthy in the company of peers.

This suggested cycle suggests also that anxious-social withdrawal should be stable over time. It is.

Social withdrawal and avoidance has been shown to be reasonably consistent across contexts. Thus,

extremely withdrawn children move away from and avoid both familiar and unfamiliar peers in such

settings as school, home, or community-at-large (Schneider, Richard, Younger, & Freeman, 2000;

Schneider, Younger, Smith, & Freeman, 1998). Furthermore, social withdrawal is stable over time

from early-to-middle childhood and thereafter into adolescence (e.g., Hymel et al., 1990; Rubin,

Chen, et al., 1995; Rubin, Hymel, & Mills, 1989).

Peer Relationships

Relationships refer to the meanings, expectations, and emotions that derive from a succession of

interactions between two individuals known to each other (Rubin, Bukowski, et al., 2006). Three

questions dominate the literature on children’s relationships with friends (e.g., Hartup, 1996): (1)

Does the child have a best friend? (2) Who are the child’s friends? (3) What is the quality of the

child’s friendships? The extant literature on friendship is reviewed, by several authors, in this

volume. Thus, we focus herein only on the friendships of socially withdrawn children.

Because they remove themselves from the company of peers, socially withdrawn children

might be expected to have difficulty making and keeping friends. Indeed, anxious-withdrawal has

been found to negatively predict the number of mutual friendships during middle childhood

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(Pedersen, Vitaro, Barker, & Borge, 2007). Nevertheless, during middle childhood and early

adolescence, socially withdrawn children are as likely as non-withdrawn children to form and

maintain at least one close friendship. Rubin, Wojslawowicz, Rose-Krasnor, Booth-LaForce, and

Burgess (2006), for instance, reported that approximately 65% of socially withdrawn children aged

10 to 11 years had a mutual best friendship in the 5th grade, a percentage nearly identical to that of

their non-withdrawn counterparts (70%). Furthermore, the majority of these friendships (69%) were

stable across the fifth grade academic year, a finding almost identical to that for non-withdrawn

children (70%). Similar findings have been reported in studies of young withdrawn children (e.g.,

Ladd & Burgess, 1999).

The friends of socially withdrawn children have been characterized as being similarly

withdrawn (e.g., Haselager, Hartup, van Lieshout, & Riksen-Walraven, 1998; Rubin, Wojslawowicz

et al., 2006). Moreover, Rubin and colleagues demonstrated not only that the friends of withdrawn

children are similarly withdrawn, but also they are similarly victimized by peers. It also appears to be

the case that the quality of withdrawn children’s friendships is less than optimal. For example,

withdrawn children rate their best friendships as significantly less helpful and intimate, and in the

event of conflict, less likely to result in resolution than do non-withdrawn children (Rubin,

Wojslawowicz et al., 2006). Furthermore, the best friends of withdrawn children also report their

friendships as less fun and helpful than do the friends of non-withdrawn children. Schneider (1999)

found that the friendships of socially withdrawn children were lower in communicative quantity and

quality, findings which may begin to explain why the friendships of socially withdrawn children are

marked by less intimate disclosure. Given that socially withdrawn children often experience in-vivo

peer rejection, they may engage in self-silencing when in the company of friends. Self-silencing, a

communication style which involves intentional verbal inhibition, is thought to reflect a defensive

strategy to protect the self from criticism within the context of close relationships. Importantly, self-

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silencing has been positively associated with such internalizing problems as depression, in samples of

adults (e.g., Grant, Beck, Farrow, & Davila, 2007). Although self-silencing has received little

attention in studies of children and adolescents (e.g., Harper & Welsh, 2007), a consideration of self-

silencing among socially withdrawn children could well enhance our understanding of the ways in

which their inhibitory tendencies and fears of negative evaluation impact qualities and features of

their close dyadic relationships.

It is well-known that children’s friendships provide important sources of social and

emotional support, especially in times of stress or transition (e.g., Berndt, Hawkins, & Jiao, 1999).

This protective “power” of friendship has been shown to be particularly helpful for children who

have difficulties within the larger peer group (Rubin, Bukowski et al., 2006). Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro,

and Bukowski (1999), for example, demonstrated that simply having a mutual best friendship

protected victimized children from increased internalizing and externalizing problems during late

childhood. Thus far, there has been limited research on the protective power of friendship for

socially anxious and withdrawn children. Recently, Oh, Rubin, Burgess, Booth-LaForce, & Rose-

Krasnor (2004) employed latent growth curve modeling to investigate the extent to which the

perceived supportiveness of friendship served as a protective factor in the maintenance, decrease, or

increase of anxious withdrawal over five assessments taken between the 5th and 8th grades (10 to 13

years of age). The perceived supportiveness of the child’s best friendship was a significant predictor

for both the initial level of anxious withdrawal and the rate of change of withdrawal over time.

Young adolescents who viewed their friendships as highly supportive were less likely to be socially

withdrawn in the 5th grade and showed a greater rate of decline in social withdrawal over time.

In a more recent analysis of data from the same sample, Oh and colleagues used General

Growth Mixture Modeling (GGMM) to identify distinct pathways of anxious-withdrawal,

differentiate valid subgroup trajectories, and examine factors that predicted change in trajectories

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within subgroups (Oh et al., in press). When data were examined across five time points over a

period of four years, three distinct social withdrawal trajectory classes were discovered: (1) a low stable

class in which children were consistently low in social withdrawal; (2) an increasing class comprising

children who became increasingly withdrawn over time; and (3) a decreasing class comprising children

who initially were highly withdrawn, but became less so over time. With regard to friendship factors,

children who had a socially withdrawn friend were more likely to show an initially high level of social

withdrawal at the outset of the study (Fall, 5th grade). In addition, having a socially withdrawn friend

after the transition to middle school (Fall, 6th grade) exacerbated children’s anxious-withdrawal over

time, supporting the contention that withdrawn children and their best friends may mutually

influence each other’s maladaptive behavior, just as is the case for aggressive children and their best

friends (e.g., Dishion et al., 1999). Lastly, for those children who became increasingly more

anxiously-withdrawn from 5th-to-8th grade, friendlessness and friendship instability, along with peer

exclusion and victimization, were significant predictors of increased social withdrawal. Taken together,

results from these two studies suggest that the benefits of friendship involvement for socially

withdrawn children are positive when friendship quality is strong, but are limited or negative when

the best friend is likewise withdrawn.

Rejection and Victimization

At the group level of Hinde’s social complexity, numerous studies have shown that anxious-

solitude and withdrawal are contemporaneously and predictively associated with peer rejection

throughout the childhood and early adolescent periods (e.g., Boivin et al., 1995; Hart et al., 2000;

Ollendick, Greene, Weist, & Oswald, 1990; Rubin, Chen, & Hymel, 1993). It is argued that the

relations between social withdrawal and peer rejection become increasingly strong across the

elementary school years because social solitude becomes increasingly viewed by the peer group as

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deviant from the norm (e.g., Gavinski-Molina, Coplan, & Younger, 2003; Younger, Gentile, &

Burgess, 1993).

Being perceived as anxious and withdrawn whilst simultaneously being rejected by the peer

group-at-large may also serve to invite victimization by bullies. At the same time, being regularly

exposed to bullying may lead to increased fear of classmates, and further withdrawal from peer

interaction and school-related activities. These notions of reciprocal relations between withdrawal

and victimization mesh well with suggestions that children characterized by a socially withdrawn

demeanor can best be described as “whipping boys” (Olweus, 1993), “easy marks” (Rubin,

Wojslawowicz, et al., 2006), physically weak (Hodges et al., 1999; Hodges, Malone, & Perry, 1997),

and anxiously vulnerable (Perry, Kusel, & Perry, 1988). Empirical connections between anxious-

withdrawal and being victimized have been reported by several researchers (e.g., Boivin et al., 1995;

Hanish & Guerra, 2004; Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2003). Importantly, the Oh et al. (in press) study

described above indicated the significance of peer exclusion and victimization for the maintaining,

indeed increasing, anxious-withdrawal from childhood through early adolescence.

Social Withdrawal and Intrapersonal Processes

There is considerable evidence indicating that such internalizing problems as loneliness, depression,

and social anxiety, are both correlates and consequences of social withdrawal throughout childhood

and adolescence (e.g., Boivin & Hymel, 1997; Gazelle & Ladd, 2003; Rubin et al., 1995).

Furthermore, Rubin and colleagues (e.g., Rubin et al., 2003) have argued that as a result of their

experiences with rejection and victimization, withdrawn children may attribute their social failures to

internal causes; that is, over time they may come to believe that there is something wrong with

themselves rather than attributing their social failures to other people or to situational factors.

Supporting these conjectures, Rubin and Krasnor (1986) found that extremely withdrawn children

tended to blame social failure on personal, dispositional characteristics rather than on external events

19

or circumstances. These results are in keeping with findings by Wichmann, Coplan, and Daniels

(2004) who reported that when 9-to-13-year-old withdrawn children were presented with

hypothetical social situations in which ambiguously caused negative events happened to them, they

attributed the events to internal and stable “self-defeating” causes. Moreover, withdrawn children

suggested that when faced with such negative situations, they were more familiar with failure

experiences and that a preferred strategy was to withdraw and escape. This latter finding with regard

to socially withdrawn children’s use of avoidant coping in response to negative events was replicated

by Burgess, Wojslawowicz, Rubin, Rose-Krasnor, and Booth-LaForce (2006). Given the conceptual

associations between social withdrawal, victimization, and peer rejection, the above noted findings

by Wichmann et al. (2004) are reminiscent of work by Graham and Juvonen (2001). These latter

researchers reported that youngsters who identified themselves as victimized by peers blamed

themselves for their peer relationship problems. And Nolen-Hoeksema, Girgus, and Seligman

(1992) have argued that self-blame can lead to a variety of negative outcomes of an internalizing

nature, such as depression, low self-esteem, and withdrawal, thereby suggesting a self-reinforcing

cycle of negative socioemotional functioning.

In recent years, significant within-group variation in psychological adjustment has been

observed for socially withdrawn children and adolescents. That is, not all withdrawn children report

high levels of loneliness, depression, and anxiety (Rubin, Wojslawowicz Bowker, & Oh, 2007).

Significantly, heterogeneity in adjustment has been associated with variability in peer exclusion

(Boivin et al., 1995; Boivin & Hymel, 1997; Gazelle & Ladd, 2003; Gazelle & Rudolph, 2004). For

example, in a longitudinal study, Gazelle and Ladd (2003) reported that shy-anxious kindergarteners

excluded by peers displayed greater stability in anxious solitude through the 4th grade and had higher

levels of depressive symptoms than shy-anxious peers who did not experience peer exclusion. A

stress-diathesis model was suggested, whereby the experience of peer exclusion exacerbates the

20

outcomes associated with anxious-solitude. In a longitudinal study of 5th and 6th graders (10- to-11

years of age), Gazelle and Rudolph (2004) demonstrated that anxious-withdrawn children who were

excluded by their peers maintained or increased the extent of their social avoidance and depression

over time. In contrast, increased social approach and decreases in depression among anxious-solitary

children resulted from the experience of low exclusion. Taken together, these data strongly suggest

that socially withdrawn children’s adjustment may be determined, in part, by the extent to which

they experience peer rejection and exclusion.

Other than Gazelle’s research noted above, there have been few longitudinal investigations

of the consequences of social withdrawal vis-à-vis intrapersonal processes. The majority of studies in

which the relations between social withdrawal and internalizing problems have been examined have

been contemporaneous in nature (e.g., Boivin & Hymel, 1997; Rubin et al., 1993). However, in the

Waterloo Longitudinal Project, observed and peer assessed social reticence and passive withdrawal at

seven years of age predicted negative self-regard and loneliness at nine and ten years of age (Hymel

et al, 1990; Rubin et al., 1989). Moreover, seven-year social withdrawal predicted self-reported

loneliness, depression, and negative self-regard at 14 years (Rubin, 1993; Rubin, Chen, et al., 1995).

FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF THEORY AND RESEARCH

In the early 1990’s, Rubin and colleagues proposed a theoretical model outlining developmental

pathways in the etiology of social withdrawal and internalizing problems. This theoretical framework

considered the joint influences of child characteristics, parental socialization practices, the quality of

relationships outside the family, and macro-systemic forces. Transactional processes were

postulated, describing the reciprocal and evolving relations over time between child temperamental

predispositions and environmental contexts (see also Rubin et al., 2003; Rubin, Hymel, Mills, &

Rose-Krasnor, 1991; Rubin, LeMare, & Lollis, 1990; Rubin & Mills, 1991).

21

In the past 20 years, researchers have examined the roles of biology and parenting in the

etiology of social withdrawal in childhood. We urge researchers to continue to explore these areas,

but also to consider these factors during the middle childhood and adolescent years; there are

virtually no such studies of the biological and parent-child concomitants and predictors of social

withdrawal during this developmental time frame. Moreover, there is a clear need to consider

additional factors that may moderate the relations between biological bases of social withdrawal, the

parenting contributors to social withdrawal, and adjustment outcomes over time. Borrowing from

Hinde’s (1987), such additional factors might include social information processing (individual

factors), social skills (interactions), friendships (relationships), and peer group status

(acceptance/rejection; peer perceptions of status – as an easy mark, a “nerd,” an outlier).

As an example of the significance of relationships, it is the case that during the early

adolescent period, children are motivated to become increasingly autonomous whilst maintaining

suitable and appropriate connections to parents (Collins & Steinberg, 2006). The motivation for

increased autonomy, and the demonstration of independent, non-adult conforming (and yet peer

conforming) behavior that reflects such efforts, may play a role in gaining peer acceptance during

the early adolescent period. For example, whilst social-conventional reasoning might suggest to

adults that bossiness, relational aggression, and risk taking behavior is less than admirable or

acceptable, young adolescents might view such behaviors as within the realm of personal decision-

making choices (see Killen, Rutland, & Jampol, this volume). In turn, such seemingly oppositional

behaviors predict perceived popularity in early adolescence (e.g., Rose, Swenson, & Waller, 2004).

Put another way, the display of behaviors that suggest a turn toward independence and autonomy

are associated with perceived popularity and dominance in the peer group.

But what about socially withdrawn young adolescents? Given the extant literature that such

children are over-protected and –directed, and given that they appear to be adult dependent during

22

the early years (e.g., Rubin et al., 1997), might it be the case that socially anxious and withdrawn

young adolescents do not strive for autonomy to the same extent as their more sociable peers?

Relatedly, if overly connected to and reliant on parents, might these relationships provide withdrawn

young adolescents with a dysfunctional model for non-familial relationships? Might their

friendships and romantic relationships be marked by insecurity and over-dependence? These are

questions that researchers would do well to consider as the literature on social withdrawal moves

beyond the years of early and middle childhood.

Recent research has indicated that friendship may serve as protective factors for those young

adolescents who have poor parent-child relationships (e.g., Rubin et al., 2004). This being the case,

and given that which is known about the friendships of socially withdrawn adolescents, could

friendship serve as a protective buffer for those whose relationships with parents are less than

adequate? Again, this question is deserved of some empirical attention.

Another direction to be taken in the future concerns the subtypes of social withdrawal. Since

the original contention that not all forms of solitude are “necessarily evil” (Rubin, 1982b), the vast

majority of research studies on the many “faces” or subtypes of social withdrawal has focused on

different solitary play behaviors observed in groups of young children (for a recent exception, Coplan,

Wilson, Frohlick, & Zelenski, 2006). While these studies have illustrated the developmental risks

associated with certain subtypes of social withdrawal, such as reticence, during early childhood, it

appears timely for similar studies to be conducted with older children and young adolescents. To

begin with, researchers would do well to inquire about children’s motivations for spending time

alone when in the company of others or when provided with opportunities to interact with others

(e.g., Coplan, Girardi, Findlay, & Frohlick, 2007). What are the cognitive or affective underpinnings

of various forms of solitary behavior among older children and adolescents (e.g., Bowker, Rubin,

Rose-Krasnor, & Booth-LaForce, 2007)?

23

It is also important that we better understand the ways in which the concomitants and

consequences of social withdrawal, in its many forms, differ for boys and girls. Although there is

some evidence to suggest that the negative prognosis for withdrawn boys is greater than for

withdrawn girls, (e.g., Caspi et al., 1988; Coplan, Gavinski-Molina, Lagacé-Séguin, & Wichmann,

2001), additional research is needed that includes a wider range of psychosocial outcomes. For

example, withdrawn boys may be at greater risk for physical victimization than withdrawn girls; might

it be the case that withdrawn girls are at greater risk for relational victimization (e.g., Crick &

Grotpeter, 1996)? Furthermore, given girls’ tendency to co-ruminate in the company of friends

(Rose, 2002), perhaps withdrawn girls’ friendships represent risk contexts as they move into

adolescence, at least relative to the friendships of withdrawn boys.

As a final note, it is clear that the etiology of social withdrawal must be considered within

cultural context. For example, in an extensive series of studies, Chen and colleagues have

demonstrated that shy, reticent, reserved behavior in the People’s Republic of China is encouraged

and accepted by mothers, teachers, and peers, and positively associated with social competence, peer

acceptance, and academic success (e.g., Chen, Hastings, Rubin, Chen, Cen, & Stewart, 1998; Chen,

Rubin, & Li, 1995). Chen (see Chen, Chung, & Hsiao, this volume) has argued that the collectivistic

values found in Chinese culture place a strong emphasis on group cohesion; consequently, shyness

and reservedness is more greatly appreciated than in western cultures that espouse individualistic

beliefs and norms. Although this line of work has consistently found cross-cultural differences in

the prevalence and correlates of socially withdrawn behavior, there is nary a study of the biological

underpinnings of the phenomenon (e.g., EEG, EKG). Importantly, for this Handbook, there are

few, if any, cross-cultural studies of the prevalence, stability, and quality of socially withdrawn

children’s friendships or romantic relationships during the middle childhood and adolescent years.

24

Some Final Thoughts

The study of social withdrawal in childhood has garnered an enormous amount of attention in the

past two decades. Researchers have examined the developmental origins of social withdrawal, its

contemporaneous and predictive correlates, and its consequences. It is now known that the social

lives of many socially withdrawn children are less than optimal. Withdrawn children are socially

deferent, anxious, lonely, and insecure in the company of peers, as well as rejected by peers. They

recognize their social incapacities, believing themselves to be deficient in social skills and social

relationships. Whether or not these factors lead inexorably to the development of psychopathology

or clinical disorders is not yet known. Relatively few longitudinal studies exist; therefore, researchers

would do well to examine the premise that social withdrawal represents a risk factor in childhood

and adolescence. And certainly, it would behoove researchers to investigate whether the friendships

and group status of socially withdrawn children represent possible protective and exacerbating

factors within and across cultures.

25

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