Unsociability, Peer Relations, and Loneliness in Chinese Early Adolescents: A Developmental Cascade Model

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Social, Emotional, Personality

Abstract

Socially withdrawn children and adolescents often remove themselves from opportunities for peer interactions and tend to display solitary behaviors in social contexts (Rubin,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). Moreover, 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. Notwithstanding, little is known about the developmental pathways linking unsociability and adjustment in Chinese adolescents.
Accordingly, the goal of this study was to examine longitudinal associations over three years among unsociability, peer problems in the cultural context of contemporary urban China.
Participants were N = 445 primary school students in Shanghai, P.R. China followed over three years from Grades 6-7 to Grades 8-9. Measures of adolescents’ unsociability, peer problems, and loneliness were obtained each year from a combination of self-reports (unsociability and loneliness) and peer nominations (peer problems).
Among the results: (1) compared with the unidirectional and bidirectional models, the developmental cascade model was deemed the best fit for the data; (2) adolescent unsociability contributed to later increases in loneliness via a pathway through peer problems. Specifically, unsociability at Time 1 (Grades 6-7) positively predicted loneliness at Time 3 (Grades 8-9), via a mediated pathway through peer rejection at Time 2 (Grades 7-8). The observed cross-lagged paths appeared consistent for boys and girls; (3) There was also evidence of bidirectionality, as only loneliness contributed to further increases in unsociability at various time points. Taken together, these results provide support for a developmental cascade model.
The findings of the present study constitute a significant contribution to our understanding of relations among unsociability, internalizing problems and the role of peer relations in today’s urban Chinese early adolescents. The results could be informative to both parents and teachers to learn about the negative effects of unsociability and to encourage more attention to unsociable adolescents. As well, future interventions could try to promote peer relationships for unsociable adolescents, which in turn, may help reduce their internalizing problems.

Authors

• Bowen Xiao, Carleton University
  Presenting Author

• Amanda Bullock, Carleton University
  Non-Presenting Author

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

• Robert J. Coplan, Carleton University
  Non-Presenting Author