Motivations for social withdrawal and socio-emotional functioning among urban/suburban Chinese children

The aim of the present study was to compare the relations between different motivations for social withdrawal (i.e., shyness, unsociability, social avoidance) and indices of socio-emotional functioning among urban and suburban Chinese children. Participants included 770 children ( M age = 10.98 years) from urban areas and 815 children ( M age = 11.21 years) from suburban areas in mainland China. Motivations for social withdrawal and indices of socio-emotional functioning were assessed via self-reports, peer nominations, and teacher ratings. Results indicated that shyness tended to be more strongly associated with socio-emotional difficulties among urban compared to suburban children. In contrast, the associations between unsociability and indices of maladjustment were stronger among suburban than urban children. For social avoidance, associations with socio-emotional difficulties were significant across groups of both urban and suburban children, but appeared to carry at least some additional risk for urban Chinese children. • We explored links between motivations for social withdrawal and adjustment among urban and suburban Chinese children. • Shyness was more strongly associated with difficulties in urban vs. suburban children. • Unsociability was more strongly associated with difficulties in suburban vs. urban children. • Social avoidance appeared to be a risk factor in both contexts.