The social cognitions of socially withdrawn children

The purpose of this study was to examine the social cognitions of peer-identified socially withdrawn children. Participants included 457 children from grades four, five and six (54% females, 46% males). Children completed a selection of self- and peer-report measures including: (1) peer-rated behavioral nominations; (2) hostile intent biases and social responses to ambiguous situations; (3) social goals and self-efficacy; and (4) a newly developed measure of causal attributions. An extreme groups procedure was used to identify three groups of children: (1) socially withdrawn (n=50); (2) aggressive (n=53); and (3) a comparison group (n=206). As compared with their peers, withdrawn children displayed a pattern of self-defeating attributions for social situations, reported lower efficacy for assertive goals, and indicated a preference for non-assertive, withdrawn strategies to deal with hypothetical conflict situations. Findings are discussed with respect to implications for interventions, and directions for further research are presented.