The characteristics of Chinese anxiously withdrawn children's friendships: Quantity, quality, and protecting against loneliness

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to compare the friendship quantity and quality of urban Chinese anxiously withdrawn children with those of typical children, and to examine the moderating role of friendship in the relation between anxious withdrawal and feelings of loneliness. Anxiously withdrawn (n = 66) and typical children (n = 170) were identified from a complete sample (N = 572) using classroom nominations collected in grades 3–6 (Mage = 10.51, SD = 1.13). At the group level, compared with typical children, anxiously withdrawn children received fewer friendship nominations from their classmates, and particularly from male classmates. Anxiously withdrawn boys nominated fewer male classmates as friends than typical boys and anxiously withdrawn girls had fewer mutual friendships with girls than typical girls. Anxiously withdrawn children reported more conflicts within their friendships than typical children; and anxiously withdrawn girls reported lower positive friendship quality than typical girls. Using a variable‐centred approach with the complete sample, a Bayesian multilevel regression analysis revealed that positive friendship quality moderated the association between anxious withdrawal and feelings of loneliness.