Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 5.
doi: 10.1002/jad.12533. Online ahead of print.

Reciprocal Associations Between Social Withdrawal Motivations and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence

Hope I White  1 , Julie C Bowker  1 , Rebecca G Etkin  2 , Shanmukh V Kamble  3
Affiliations

Reciprocal Associations Between Social Withdrawal Motivations and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence

Hope I White et al. J Adolesc. .

Abstract

Introduction: This multi-informant longitudinal study examines the bidirectional associations among social withdrawal motivations (shyness, unsociability, avoidance) and peer difficulties (exclusion, victimization, rejection, perceived isolation). The present research also considers whether associations among withdrawal motivations and peer difficulties vary by adolescents' gender.

Methods: A large urban sample of Indian young adolescents participated at two timepoints (T1, T2) in 2014 (N = 444; 56% male, Mage = 13.77 years). Peer difficulties were assessed via peer nominations of victimization, rejection, and exclusion and adolescents' self-reports of perceived social isolation.

Results: Contrary to expectations, no reciprocal associations among peer difficulties and social withdrawal motivations were observed in this study. Results did, however, show that T1 shy motivations were associated positively with T2 victimization, and T1 avoidant motivations were related positively with T2 exclusion. In addition, for girls, T1 shy motivations were related positively to T2 social isolation. Also for girls, T1 isolation was related negatively to avoidant and unsociable motivations at T2. Findings also showed that peer victimization was a positive predictor, but peer rejection was a negative predictor, of later unsociable motivations for boys and girls.

Conclusions: Taken together, these results highlight the importance of considering different types of peer difficulties in studies of social withdrawal motivations during early adolescence, have potential applied implications, and set the stage for future research.

Keywords: adolescence; gender; motivations; peer difficulties; social withdrawal.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Asendorpf, J. B. 1990. “Beyond Social Withdrawal: Shyness, Unsociability, and Peer Avoidance.” Human Development 33: 250–259. https://doi.org/10.1159/000276522.
    1. Barzeva, S. A., J. S. Richards, W. H. J. Meeus, and A. J. Oldehinkel. 2020. “The Social Withdrawal and Social Anxiety Feedback Loop and the Role of Peer Victimization and Acceptance in the Pathways.” Development and Psychopathology 32, no. 4: 1402–1417. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419001354.
    1. Benjamini, Y., and Y. Hochberg. 1995. “Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B: Statistical Methodology 57, no. 1: 289–300. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2517-6161.1995.tb02031.x.
    1. Booth‐LaForce, C., W. Oh, A. E. Kennedy, K. H. Rubin, L. Rose‐Krasnor, and B. Laursen. 2012. “Parent and Peer Links to Trajectories of Anxious Withdrawal From Grades 5 to 8.” Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology: The Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 41, no. 2: 138–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2012.651995.
    1. Bowker, J. C., A. Markovic, A. Cogswell, and R. Raja. 2012. “Moderating Effects of Aggression on the Associations Between Social Withdrawal Subtypes and Peer Difficulties During Early Adolescence.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 41, no. 8: 995–1007. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9712-0.

LinkOut - more resources