Social Avoidance and Social Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Emotion Regulation and Emotion Lability/Negativity Among Chinese Preschool Children.

Jingjing Zhu,Chenyu Yan,Yan Li,Will Hipson,Bowen Xiao,Robert J. Coplan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.618670

Jingjing Zhu, Chenyu Yan + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.618670

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Abstract

The present study explored the role of emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity as a moderator in the relation between child social avoidance and social adjustment (i.e., interpersonal skills, asocial behavior, peer exclusion) in Chinese culture. Participants were N = 194 children (102 boys, 92 girls, Mage = 70.82 months, SD = 5.40) recruited from nine classrooms in two public kindergartens in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Multi-source assessments were employed with mothers rating children’s social avoidance and teachers rating children’s emotion regulation, emotion lability/negativity and social adjustment outcomes. The results indicated that the relations between social avoidance and social adjustment difficulties were more negative among children lower in emotion regulation, but not significant for children with higher emotion regulation. In contrast, the relations between social avoidance and social adjustment difficulties were more positive among children higher in emotion lability/negativity, but not significant for children with lower emotion lability/negativity. This study informs us about how emotion regulation and emotion lability/negativity are jointly associated with socially avoidant children’s development. As well, the findings highlight the importance of considering the meaning and implication of social avoidance in Chinese culture.

Highlights

Whether in the classroom or on the playground, it is not uncommon to see some children displaying socially withdrawn behaviors (Rubin et al, 2003)
Our results revealed that emotion regulation moderate the association between social avoidance and asocial behavior, interpersonal skills
Emotion regulation was negatively associated with asocial behavior and peer exclusion and was positively associated with interpersonal skills

Summary

Introduction

Whether in the classroom or on the playground, it is not uncommon to see some children displaying socially withdrawn behaviors (Rubin et al, 2003). Social withdrawal is a multi-dimensional construct that includes several motivational substrates, such as shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance (Asendorpf, 1990; Rubin et al, 2009). Other children would be considered unsociable as they withdraw, not out of social anxiety, but out of a desire to spend time alone. Social avoidance, which is the combination of a desire for spending time alone and Social Avoidance and Adjustments actively seeking to avoid social interaction (Asendorpf, 1990). Social avoidance is concurrently and predictively associated with a number of maladaptive adjustment outcomes, such peer problems, social anxiety, and depression (Bowker et al, 2012; Coplan et al, 2013, 2018; Nelson, 2013)

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