Early Childhood Reticent and Solitary-Passive Behaviors and Adjustment Outcomes in Chinese Children.

Little is known about the developmental outcomes of children's social withdrawal in non-Western societies. The present study examined how two main forms of social withdrawal, social reticence and solitary-passive behavior, in early childhood were associated with adjustment in late childhood in Chinese children (75 boys and 92 girls). Data on reticent and solitary-passive behaviors were collected at 4 years of age from laboratory observations. Follow-up data on school, behavioral, and psychological adjustment were collected at 11 years of age from multiple sources. It was found that whereas reticent behavior mainly predicted later psychological problems such as loneliness and depression, solitary-passive behavior predicted later school incompetence and externalizing problems. The results suggest that reticence and solitary-passive behavior may represent distinct forms of withdrawal that play different roles in maladaptive development in Chinese context.