| Summary: | The importance of childhood social functioning has been well established in the clinical and research literature. Recently, empirical investigations have underscored the long-term stability of aberrant patterns of childhood social interaction such as social withdrawal and aggression. As such, it is critical to be able to identify such patterns of behavior in children. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a multimethod behavioral assessment of childhood social withdrawal. Fourth and fifth grade children identified by teachers as socially withdrawn were compared with children identified by teachers as socially well-adjusted. A teacher nomination procedure was used to identify thirty withdrawn and thirty well-adjusted boys and girls. A multimethod behavioral assessment was conducted using the following techniques: (1) self-report measures of anxiety, fear, and depression; (2) a teacher rating scale of withdrawn classroom behavior; (3) peer sociometric measures; (4) behavioral observations of peer interaction; (5) parent ratings of withdrawn behavior; (6) behavioral role-play task; and (7) a cognitive social self-statement test. Results indicated that teacher-identified withdrawn and well-adjusted children differed significantly on the majority of these measures. Withdrawn children reported more fear, anxiety, and depression than did well-adjusted children. Using a rating scale of discrete behaviors, teachers were able to discriminate between withdrawn and well-adjusted children. Peers, too, were able to differentiate between withdrawn and well-adjusted children. Withdrawn children received significantly lower peer sociometric ratings and fewer sociometric nominations than did well-adjusted children. Behavioral observations of peer interaction revealed that withdrawn children were more likely to spend free-play time engaged in solitary or adult-oriented activity than were well-adjusted children. Finally, results of the cognitive social self-statement test yielded significant differences between withdrawn and well-adjusted boys and girls. In particular, withdrawn boys endorsed more inhibiting thoughts and fewer facilitating thoughts than did well-adjusted children. === Ph. D.
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