Poster #232 - Unsociability in Chinese Children: Concurrent and Predictive Relations with Parenting Styles, Peer relations and Adjustments

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Socially withdrawn children often remove themselves from opportunities for peer interactions and tend to display solitary behaviors in social contexts (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009). Contemporary theory and research have identified several different subtypes of social withdrawal. For example, there has been considerable previous research on the development and implications of shyness, a temperamental trait characterized by heightened wariness and self-consciousness in social situations (Crozier, 1995). Shyness is associated with negative adjustment outcomes such as peer difficulties (e.g., peer victimization, rejection), internalizing problems (e.g., loneliness, social anxiety), negative self-perception, and academic difficulties (Rubin et al., 2009). In contrast, comparatively less is known about unsociability, which refers to a non-fearful preference for solitary activities (Asendorpf, 1990), and appears to be relatively benign in childhood (Coplan & Weeks, 2010).
Chen et al. (2006) have argued that cultural values play an important role in determining the meanings and implications of different types of social withdrawal. For example, Chinese culture is a collectivist culture with unique social norms, with maintaining harmony viewed as a central concern for individuals (Chen, 2010). In this cultural context, unsociability is more likely to be perceived as selfish and deviant, and there is some evidence to suggest that this form of social withdrawal is associated with internalizing problems and peer difficulties in Chinese children (Liu et al., 2014; 2015). Notwithstanding, little is known about the developmental pathways linking unsociability and adjustment in Chinese children. Accordingly, the goal of this study was to examine the short‐term longitudinal associations between unsociability and: (1) maternal parenting styles (e.g., authoritativeness); (2) peer relations (e.g., peer preference); and (3) adjustment outcomes (e.g., internalizing problems) in the cultural context of contemporary urban China.
Participants were N = 1,125 third to eighth-grade students (603 boys; Mage = 11.73 years, SD = 21.75 months), attending six public elementary and junior high schools in Shanghai, P. R. China. Multi-source assessments were employed at two time points (separated by 2 years). Children provided self-reports of shyness, unsociability, mothers provided ratings of their authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles, teacher reported children’s adjustments (academic performance, internalizing and externalizing problems) and peer preference were obtained from peer nominations.
Results indicated that, while controlling for the effects of shyness, unsociability was associated with socioemotional and school difficulties. In particular, unsociability appeared to act as a risk factor for later mother’s authoritarian parenting and internalizing difficulties across the school year (see Table 1). Hierarchical regressions were then conducted to examine cross-lagged panel associations across time points (see Figure 1). Among the results: (1) child unsociability was quite stable across one year; (2) unsociability predicted increased maternal authoritarian parenting one year later (but authoritarian parenting did not significantly predict unsociability); and (3) there were significant reciprocal effects between unsociability and child internalizing problem (i.e., unsociability at Time1 significantly predicted more internalizing problem at Time 2, and internalizing problem significantly predicted more unsociability at Time 2). Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of unsociability in Chinese culture.

Authors

• Bowen Xiao, Carleton University
  Presenting Author

• Junsheng Liu, East China Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Robert J Coplan, Carleton University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xinyin Chen, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dan Li, Shanghai Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author