title: Young Chinese children's beliefs about the implications of subtypes of social withdrawal: A first look at social avoidance.
abstract: The goal of this study was to examine young Chinese children's beliefs about the implications of different subtypes of social withdrawal (e.g., shyness, unsociability), including for the first time, social avoidance. Participants were 133 children in kindergarten (n = 58, Mage  = 70.85 months) and grade 1 (n = 75, Mage  = 83.49 months). Children were presented with vignettes describing hypothetical peers displaying shy, unsociable, avoidant, and socially competent behaviours and were then asked a series of questions to assess their beliefs about the implications of these different behaviours. Young children made distinctions between social withdrawal subtypes in terms of underlying motivations and emotions. Children also appeared to hold differential beliefs about the implications of different forms of social withdrawal: Of note, they anticipated that socially avoidant peers would experience the most negative outcomes. These findings provide some of the first evidence to suggest that social avoidance represents a distinct form of social withdrawal among young Chinese children. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of distinguishing between different subtypes of social withdrawal in Chinese culture.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xuechen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Coplan
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.|School of Preschool and Special Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Junsheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012792:Shyness; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D012938:Social Perception; D066107:Social Skills
keywords: Chinese children; beliefs; shyness; social avoidance; social withdrawal; unsociability