Adolescent outcomes of social functioning in Chinese children

A sample of Chinese children in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, initially aged 8 and 10 years, participated in this four-year longitudinal project. Information on social functioning including sociability-leadership, aggression-disruption, and shyness-sensitivity was collected from peer assessments in the original study. Data on indexes of social and school adjustment, including peer acceptance, teachers' perceptions of school-related competence, leadership, academic achievement, adjustment problems, and self-perceptions of competence, were collected from multiple sources in the follow-up study. Consistent with Western literature, sociability-leadership positively predicted indexes of social and school adjustment. Aggression was positively associated with adolescent maladjustment for boys and adjustment for girls. Finally, inconsistent with the Western literature, shyness-sensitivity in childhood was positively predictive of indexes of adolescent adjustment such as teacher-assessed competence, leadership, and academic achievement.