Received: 28 September 2016 | Revised: 2 August 2017 | Accepted: 8 August 2017

DOI: 10.1111/sode.12258

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Assessment and implications of social withdrawal

in early childhood: A first look at social avoidance

Robert J. Coplan1 | Laura L. Ooi1 | Bowen Xiao1 |

Linda Rose-Krasnor2

1
Carleton University
2
Abstract
Brock University
The goals of the present research were to: (a) develop and provide
Correspondence preliminary validation of a parent-rated measure of social avoidance
Robert J. Coplan, Department of in early childhood; and (b) to evaluate a conceptual model of the
Psychology, Carleton University,
direct and indirect links among young children’s social withdrawal
1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON,
Canada K1S 5B6. (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and indices
Email: [email protected] of internalizing problems (social anxiety, depression). Participants
were N 5 564 children (272 boys, 292 girls; Mage 5 67.29 mos,
Funding information
Social Science and Humanities Research SD 5 11.70) attending kindergarten and Grade 1 classes in public
Council of Canada, Grant/Award Number: schools in southeastern Ontario, Canada. A new subscale assessing
435-2012-1173
social avoidance was added to an existing parent-rated measure of
children’s social withdrawal. Indices of children’s socioemotional func-
tioning were provided by parents and teachers. Among the results,
the revised measure of multiple forms of social withdrawal demon-
strated good psychometric properties, moderate stability 16 months
later, and evidence of validity. Shyness, unsociability, and social avoid-
ance also displayed differential patterns of associations with indices
of children’s socioemotional functioning. Results are discussed in
terms of the assessment and implications of different forms of social
withdrawal in early childhood.

KEYWORDS
anxiety, assessment, peers/peer relations, shyness, social behavior

1 | INTRODUCTION

In early childhood, the peer group represents a critical and unique context for children’s socioemotional development,
as it is during this age period that children acquire and master a myriad of skills and abilities that contribute toward
their mental health and well-being (Coplan & Ooi, 2014). Accordingly, there are reasons to be concerned about socially
withdrawn children, who frequently remove themselves from opportunities to engage in social interaction, and may
thus miss out on the substantial benefits afforded by age-normative engagement with peers (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker,

Social Development. 2018;27:125–139. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sode V

C 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd | 125
126 | COPLAN ET AL.

2009). However, it is now widely accepted that social withdrawal itself is a multidimensional construct, reflecting
different combinations of underlying motivational and emotional substrates, and having differential implications for
children’s well-being (Asendorpf, 1990; Coplan, Ooi, & Nocita, 2015).
Most previous research has focused on shyness, a temperamental trait that may lead to social withdrawal because
of social fears and social-evaluative concerns, despite a desire to interact with others (Coplan, Prakash, O’Neil, &
Armer, 2004). Less is known about unsociability, which refers to a non-fearful preference for solitary activities and is
thought to be comparatively benign in early childhood (Coplan & Weeks, 2010). Finally, social avoidance is thought to
reflect not only a lack of interest in peer engagement, but also the active circumvention of opportunities for social
interaction (Coplan et al., 2015). Although this latter subtype of social withdrawal is postulated to have particularly
negative implications for children’s socioemotional functioning (Asendorpf, 1990), there is a current lack of a validated
measure of social avoidance designed to assess this construct in young children. Accordingly, the primary goals of the
present study were to: (a) develop and provide preliminary validation of a parent-rated measure of social avoidance in
early childhood; and (b) to evaluate a conceptual model of the direct and indirect links among young children’s social
withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and indices of internalizing problems (social
anxiety, depression).

1.1 | Multiple forms of social withdrawal in early childhood

For the last 20 years, subtypes of social withdrawal have most often been derived from a conceptual model that postu-
lates different combinations of the motivational tendencies to either approach or avoid social situations (Asendorpf,
1990). In this regard, shyness is characterized by an approach-avoidant conflict, whereby the desire to interact with
peers (high social approach motivation) is often overcome by social fear, anxiety, and self-consciousness (high social
avoidance motivation) (Coplan et al., 2004). The term shyness shares conceptual overlap with a number of other similar
constructs (e.g., behavioral inhibition, Kagan, 1997; anxious solitude, Gazelle & Ladd, 2003). Even in early childhood,
shyness is concurrently and predictively associated with socioemotional difficulties, including peer problems (e.g., defi-
cits in social skills, peer rejection, victimization) and internalizing difficulties (e.g., social anxiety, loneliness) (Bohlin,
Hagekull, & Andersson, 2005; Coplan, Arbeau, & Armer, 2008; Karevold, Ystrøm, Coplan, Sanson, & Mathiesen, 2012;
Kopala-Sibley & Klein, 2017).
In contrast, unsociability (or social disinterest) is characterized by a lack of interest in social interaction (low social
approach motivation) but not discomfort amongst peers (low social avoidance motivations) (Asendorpf, 1990). Accord-
ingly, unsociable children are thought to express a non-fearful preference for solitary play (Coplan et al., 2004), also
described as an affinity for aloneness (Goossens, 2014). Compared to shyness, unsociability is considered to be a
relatively benign form of social withdrawal, particularly in early childhood. In support of this notion, results from several
studies have suggested that unsociability is largely unassociated with indices of socioemotional difficulties among stud-
ies of 4- to 8-year old children (Coplan et al., 2004; Coplan & Weeks, 2010; Harrist, Zaia, Bates, Dodge, & Pettit, 1997;
Spangler & Gazelle, 2009). Notwithstanding, there is at least some evidence to suggest that unsociable children may still
experience difficulties with peers (Harrist et al., 1997), perhaps because peers are put off by children who tend to play
alone and infrequently initiate peer interaction (Coplan & Weeks, 2010). As well, although unsociability has not generally
been found to be contemporaneously associated with negative socioemotional outcomes in later childhood (e.g., Coplan
et al., 2013) or adolescence (e.g., Bowker & Raja, 2011), results from a recent longitudinal study suggest that unsociabil-
ity at the age of six was predictive of later internalizing problems at the age of nine (Kopala-Sibley & Klein, 2017).
Of particular interest for the present study is a third form of social withdrawal, social avoidance, characterized by
the combination of low social approach and high social avoidance motivations (Asendorpf, 1990). Accordingly, socially
avoidant children would both desire solitude and actively avoid social interactions. Although Asendorpf (1990) specu-
lated that this form of social withdrawal might carry the greatest risk for the most pervasive socioemotional difficulties,
to date relatively little is known about socially avoidant children.
It was later hypothesized that social avoidance may represent an extreme form shyness (i.e., social anxiety), with
fear and social-evaluative concerns during social interactions becoming so intense that some shy children’s social
COPLAN ET AL. | 127

approach motivations become extinguished over time (Schmidt & Fox, 1999). Relatedly, it has also been suggested
that negative peer experiences may exacerbate feelings of social avoidance among initially shy children (Bowker &
Raja, 2011; Coplan, Ooi, Rose-Krasnor, & Nocita, 2014). Inherent in both of these postulations is a conceptualization
of social avoidance as more of a later emerging form of social withdrawal (i.e., evolving out of temperamental shyness1).
It was also recently speculated that social avoidance could have a unique etiology related to the development of
depression in childhood (Coplan et al., 2015)—perhaps representing an early manifestation of social anhedonia
(a reduced capacity to derive pleasure from social interactions, Blanchard, Gangestad, Brown, & Horan, 2000).
There have only been a handful of previous empirical studies of social avoidance. Results provide initial support
for the notion that social avoidance is a particularly maladaptive form of social withdrawal. For example, socially avoi-
dant older children reported higher social anxiety than unsociable and non-withdrawn children (Coplan et al., 2013),
and social avoidance in Chinese children was uniquely associated with indices of both peer and internalizing problems
(Sang et al., 2016). Socially avoidant young adults also reported more emotional dysregulation and relationship difficul-
ties than did unsociable or non-withdrawn individuals (but did not differ significantly from their shy counterparts)
(Nelson, 2013). There has also been some support for the recently postulated specific link between social avoidance
and depression. For example, Bowker and Raja (2011) reported that adolescent social avoidance was significantly
correlated with depressed affect (whereas shyness and unsociability were not). Similarly, socially avoidant children
reported higher levels of indices of depression (e.g., depressive symptoms, negative attributional styles, low positive
affect) than shy and unsociable comparison groups (Coplan et al., 2013).
There have been no previous studies directly assessing social avoidance in early childhood. However, Ding et al.
(2015) recently presented Chinese children in kindergarten and Grade 1 with hypothetical vignettes depicting peers
displaying socially avoidant behaviors (as well as other forms of social withdrawal). Among the results, children antici-
pated the most negative social and educational outcomes for the hypothetical avoidant peer.

1.2 | The present study

There are many reasons why it may be particularly important to study social withdrawal in early childhood. For exam-
ple, from a developmental perspective, this age period represents a crucial time for the acquisition and mastery of
socioemotional skills, largely in the context of peer interaction (Coplan & Ooi, 2014). The transition to formal education
settings may also impart unique challenges for socially withdrawn children (Coplan & Arbeau, 2008). Previous research
supports the notion that shyness and unsociability represent unique forms of social withdrawal in early childhood, with
unique implications (e.g., Coplan et al., 2004). However, it has yet to be determined if social avoidance also emerges as
a differentiated dimension of social withdrawal among young children.
Accordingly, the first aim of the present study was to develop and provide initial validation of a measure of social
avoidance for use with young children. The few previous empirical studies of social avoidance in older children (Coplan
et al., 2013), adolescents (Bowker & Raja, 2011), and young adults (Nelson, 2013) have all relied upon self-report
assessments. Parents may be better suited to assess the different forms of social withdrawal in early childhood, since
young children: (a) tend to have difficulties in reliably reporting their internal states and motivations (e.g., Harris, 2008;
Thompson, Goodvin, & Meyer, 2006); and (b) do not have a well-developed cognitive schema for social withdrawal
(e.g., Younger & Piccinin, 1989).
The child social preference scale (CSPS, Coplan et al., 2004) was developed as a parental rating scale to specifically
distinguish between shyness and unsociability in young children. It has good psychometric properties across multiple
samples (e.g., Coplan & Weeks, 2010; Kopala-Sibley & Klein, 2017) and has been successfully translated for use in
other cultures (e.g., China; Li et al., 2016; Japan; Okada, Tani, Ohnishi, Nakajima, & Tsujii, 2012). In the present study,
we created a new subscale for the CSPS, designed specifically to assess social avoidance (renamed the CSPS-3 to
reflect the addition of a third subscale). We expected these new items to load on a separate factor, which would
suggest that parents of young children also make distinctions among shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance.
The 1-year stability of this measure was tested with a sub-sample of children. As well, to provide additional
evidence of the validity of the CSPS-3, we examined associations between dimensions of social withdrawal and the
128 | COPLAN ET AL.

following: (a) emotion dysregulation; (b) peer interactions outside of school; and (c) socially withdrawn behaviors at
school. Given the lack of previous research, predictions for social avoidance were somewhat speculative.
Notwithstanding, it was hypothesized that shyness and social avoidance (but not unsociability) would be associated
with indices of emotion dysregulation. Shyness has been previously associated with negative emotionality and a lack
of soothability (Coplan et al., 2004), perhaps reflecting shy children’s heightened emotional reactivity and difficulties in
self-regulation (Eggum et al., 2012). Further, all three forms of social withdrawal were expected to be associated with
behavioral indicators of social withdrawal—both at school (i.e., teacher ratings of withdrawn behaviors) and outside of
school (i.e., parental reports of frequency of interactions and engagement of peer interaction) (Coplan, DeBow,
Schneider, & Graham, 2009). However, only shyness and social avoidance (but not unsociability) were expected to be
associated with the experience of stress during peer interactions.
The second goal of this study was to evaluate a conceptual model of the direct and indirect links among young
children’s social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and indices of internalizing prob-
lems (social anxiety, depression). To this end, we drew upon a theoretical model that describes complex and transac-
tional processes that may underlie the links between social withdrawal and the development of internalizing problems
(Rubin, Hymel, Mills, & Rose-Krasnor, 1991). In this conceptualization, withdrawn behaviors are thought to evoke
negative peer responses, which in turn promote negative feelings about the self and others.
We sought to add to the specificity of this meditation model, postulating different pathways for different forms of
social withdrawal. Accordingly, we anticipated that all three dimensions of social withdrawal would be associated with
peer difficulties (Coplan et al., 2013). However, after controlling for these common associations, we further speculated
that shyness would still display a direct relation with symptoms of anxiety in the peer context. There is strong evidence
linking shyness in early childhood with concurrent and later developing anxiety (particularly social anxiety—see Clauss
& Blackford, 2012). In contrast, although shyness has been demonstrated to predict later depressive symptoms
(Karevold et al., 2012), the concurrent link between shyness and depression is less well established. On a more specula-
tive basis, we postulated that in this model social avoidance would still display a direct relation with symptoms of
depression but not anxiety (Coplan et al., 2015). Finally, unsociability was not expected to be directly associated with
either symptoms of anxiety or depression (Coplan & Weeks, 2010).
There is some evidence to suggest that all forms of social withdrawal may have more negative implications for
boys as compared to girls (particularly in the peer domain) since such behaviors violate gender norms related to male
social assertion and dominance (Doey, Coplan, & Kingsbury, 2014). Accordingly, we tentatively hypothesized that links
between all forms of social withdrawal and indices of socioemotional difficulties would be more pronounced among
boys than among girls.

2 | METHOD

2.1 | Participants
Participants were N 5 564 children (272 boys, 292 girls; Mage 5 67.29 mos, SD 5 11.70) attending junior kindergarten
(ages 4–5 years), kindergarten (ages 5–6 years), and Grade 1 (ages 6–7 years) classes in (n 5 17) public schools located
in a range of neighborhoods (urban, suburban, rural) in southeastern Ontario, Canada. The public-school boards from
which the sample was drawn did not permit the collection of information regarding child ethnicity, parental employ-
ment status, or family income. However, approximately 5% of mothers and 8% of fathers had not attended high
school, 17% of mothers and 23% of fathers had completed high school, 37% of mothers and 36% of fathers had a
community college degree, 26% of mothers and 21% of fathers had a university degree, and 15% of mothers and 11%
of fathers had at least some graduate training.

2.2 | Procedure
Data were collected at 3 time points. Table 1 provides a summary of the measures collected at each time point.
Parents were not compensated for participation in the study, but teachers received a small gift card. Of note, teachers
COPLAN ET AL. | 129

TA BL E 1 Summary of measures collected at each time point

Time 1 Time 2 Time 3

(January/February) (May/June) (May/June, 1 year later)

Parents (n 5 564): Parents (n 5 267): Parents (n 5 148):

Demographics Preschool anxiety scale-revised Child social preference scale-3
Child social preference scale-3 Strengths and difficulties questionnaire
Colorado child inventory Teachers (n 5 283):
Frequency/engagement with peers Child behavior scale
outside school

in several schools did not participate in this study because of a labor dispute that was ongoing at the time of data
collection. However, results from missing data analyses indicated that children whose teachers completed vs. did not
complete the rating scales did not differ significantly on any study variables. Time 2 parental questionnaires were
received from 48% of the original participants. At Time 3 parents were again asked to complete the CSPS-3 (approxi-
mately 16 months after first completing this questionnaire), with responses received from 26% of the original sample.
Results from attrition analyses indicated that children whose parents participated vs. did not participate at Time 2 or
Time 3 did not differ significantly on any study variables except for parental education (with higher levels of parental
education reported among those who remained in the study).

2.3 | Measures
2.3.1 | Parent ratings
To assess dimensions of social withdrawal, parents completed the newly revised CSPS-3, originally developed by
Coplan et al. (2004). The original CSPS included subscales assessing child shyness (7 items) and unsociability (4 items).
For the revised version, five new items were created to assess social avoidance. The content of the social avoidance
items was derived from relevant conceptual writings pertaining to this construct (e.g., Asendorpf, 1990; Coplan et al.,
2015).2 All items were rated on a 5-point scale (from 15 ‘not at all’ to 55 ‘a lot’). The original version of the CSPS has
demonstrated a stable factor structure across samples, good psychometric properties, and evidence of construct and
convergent validity (Coplan et al., 2004; Coplan & Weeks, 2010). The factor structure, psychometric properties, and
final items for the CSPS-3 are presented in the Section 3.
Parents also completed several additional measures, including the Colorado childhood temperament inventory (CCTI,
Rowe & Plomin, 1977). All items were rated on a 5-point scale (from 15 ‘not at all’ to 55 ‘a lot’). Of particular interest
in the current study were subscales assessing negative emotionality (5 items, a 5 .85) and soothability (5 items,
a 5 .76), both of which have previously demonstrated evidence of validity (e.g., associations with other measures of
emotional dysregulation, Carter, Briggs-Gowan, Jones, & Little, 2003).
As an assessment of children’s peer interactions outside of school, parents were asked to provide ratings of their
children’s experiences during informal play with peers (Ooi, Rose-Krasnor, Coplan, Shapira, & Thomas, 2017; Ramey
et al., 2010). Ratings (on a 5-point scale from 05 ‘not at all’ to 45 ‘very’) of how ‘interesting’, ‘important’, and ‘fun’ play
with peers was for their child were averaged to create a measure of positive psychological engagement (a 5 .84). Parents
also rated how ‘stressful’ these experiences were for their children (using the same scale) and how frequently they
engaged in peer play (from 15 ‘not at all’ to 35 ‘several times a week’). In support of the validity if this measure, mater-
nal ratings of child positive psychological engagement outside of school was significantly and negatively associated
with children’s self-reported preference for solitary play at school (Coplan et al., 2014).
Finally, parents also completed several assessments of children’s socioemotional functioning. Children’s social anxi-
ety symptoms were assessed using the 7-item social anxiety subscale of the revised preschool anxiety scale (PAS-R;
Edwards, Rapee, Kennedy, & Spence, 2010). Parents rated each item based on how true it was of their child’s behavior
along a 5-point scale (from 15 ‘never or almost never true’ to 55 ‘always or almost always true’; a 5 .87). Edwards
130 | COPLAN ET AL.

et al. (2010) reported strong maternal/paternal agreement for the PAS-R, and evidence of validity via associations with
behavioral indicators of anxiety and diagnosed anxiety disorders.
Parents also completed the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 2001), with items rated on a
3-point scale (from 0 5 ‘not at all true’ to 2 5 ‘certainly true’). The SDQ is a widely used screening measure of behavior
problems in young children and has previously demonstrated good psychometric properties and strong evidence of
validity (e.g., Stone, Otten, Engels, Vermulst, & Janssens, 2010). Of interest for the present study was the subscale
assessing peer problems (5 items, a 5 .67). A single item from the SDQ (Item 13—‘often unhappy, depressed, or tear-
ful’) was also of particular relevance as a measure of depressive symptoms. Although we acknowledge that the use of
a single item in this context is far from ideal, this item has previously been used as an index of parent-rated symptoms
of depression (Classi, Milton, Ward, Sarsour, & Johnston, 2012). Moreover, it has been suggested that the emotional
problems subscale of the SDQ is more representative of a broader range of difficulties (e.g., anxiety, fear, nervousness),
and that the single item is more strongly related to previously established correlates of depressive symptoms (e.g., risk
for self-harm) than the remaining items in the emotional symptoms subscale (Lundh, Wangby-Lundh, & Bjärehed,
2011).

2.3.2 | Teacher ratings

Teachers completed the child behavior scale (CBS, Ladd & Profilet, 1996) in order to provide assessments of children’s
social adjustment at school. In the current study, four subscales were of interest: (a) asocial (socially withdrawn) with
peers (6 items, a 5 .89); (b) anxious with peers (4 items, a 5 .89); (c) excluded by peers (7 items, a 5 .92); and (d)
aggressive with peers (7 items, a 5 .80). Teachers reported how characteristic or applicable each item was for the child
on a 3-point scale (from 1 5 ‘does not apply’ to 3 5 ‘certainly applies’). Ladd and Profilet (1996) established the factors
structure of the CBS and demonstrated strong evidence of validity (e.g., correlations with observations of children’s
behaviors).

3 | RESULTS

3.1 | Evaluation of the CSPS-3

The 16 items of the CSPS-3 (11 original items, 5 newly created items) were subjected to exploratory factor analyses
(IBM SPSS Statistics 24) with oblimin rotation. Results indicated a three-factor solution (i.e., with Eigenvalues >1). One
of the newly devised items cross-loaded (>.4) on two factors (‘my child is just not interested in initiating play activities
with other children’) and was subsequently discarded.
The final three-factor solution accounted for 56.28% of the variance. The first factor was comprised of the items
from the original shyness scale of the CSPS (7 items, factor loadings from .64 to .83, a 5 .87, e.g., ‘my child seems to
want to play with others, but is sometimes nervous to’). The second factor was comprised of the items from the origi-
nal unsociability scale of the CSPS (4 items, factor loadings from .56 to .81, a 5 .71, e.g., ‘my child often seems content
to play alone’). The third factor was comprised of the remaining newly added items designed to assess social avoidance
(4 items, factor loadings from .57 to .73, a 5 .70, i.e., ‘my child actively avoids playing with other children’; ‘my child
often goes out of his/her way not to play with other children’; ‘my child does not want to play with other children’;
‘my child will often turn down social invitations from other children because he/she wants to be alone’). Descriptive
statistics for the CSPS-3 subscales and the rest of the main study variables are provided in Table 2.
Correlations among the three CSPS-3 subscales (computed as averages of the relevant items) were:
shy-unsociable: r 5 .27; shy-avoidance: r 5 .52; avoidance-unsociable: r 5 .31 (all p < .001). There were no significant
gender differences in the subscales and no significant correlations with child age. Shyness and unsociability were also
not significantly associated with maternal or paternal education. Social avoidance was significantly associated with
paternal (r 5 2.09, p 5 .03), but not maternal education (r 5 2.04, p 5 .26).
In order to provide an initial assessment of the construct and convergent/divergent validity of the CSPS-3, correla-
tions were computed between the three subscales and assessments of conceptually relevant constructs, including:
COPLAN ET AL. | 131

TA BL E 2 Descriptive statistics for study variables

Variable Mean SD Min–Max

Time 1: Parents (n 5 564)

Shyness 2.05 .74 1.00–4.29
Unsociability 2.54 .71 1.00–4.75
Social avoidance 1.40 .54 1.00–4.00
Emotionality 2.64 .87 1.00–5.00
Soothability 3.29 .71 1.40–5.00
Peer interaction outside of school
Frequency 2.47 .53 1.00–3.00
Psychological engagement 3.66 .55 0.00–4.00
Stress .60 .83 0.00–4.00

Time 2: Parents (n 5 267)

Social anxiety 2.27 .75 1.00–4.71
Peer problems .26 .31 0.00–1.80
Unhappy, depressed, tearful (SDQ single item) .14 .41 0.00–2.00

Time 2: Teachers (n 5 283)

Asocial with peers 1.22 .37 1.00–3.00
Anxious with peers 1.35 .45 1.00–3.00
Excluded by peers 1.16 .31 1.00–2.57

Time 3: Parents (n 5 148)

Shyness 2.01 .75 1.00–4.86
Unsociability 2.62 .77 1.00–4.25
Social avoidance 1.42 .58 1.00–4.00

(a) other dimensions of parent-rated child temperament (negative emotionality, soothability); (b) parental ratings of
aspects of children’s peer interactions outside of school (frequency, psychological engagement, stress); and (c) teacher
ratings of children’s socially withdrawn (asocial) behaviors at school. Results are presented in Table 3.
In support of the construct validity of the CSPS-3 as an assessment of different dimensions of social withdrawal,
all three subscales were significantly and positively correlated with teacher ratings of socially withdrawn behaviors at
school. Of note, although only shyness was significantly associated with the frequency of parental reported peer con-
tact outside of school, all three subscales were also significantly and negatively associated with psychological engage-
ment during these peer encounters. In terms of convergent/divergent validity, both shyness and social avoidance were
significantly and positively related to negative emotionality, as well as significantly and negatively related to soothabil-
ity. In all cases, the magnitude of these associations was significantly greater than the associations between unsociabil-
ity and these same variables (tested using Fisher’s r-to-z transformation, all p < .001). Similarly, although all three

TA BL E 3 Correlations between CSPS-3 subscales and child temperament and peer engagement

CSPS-3 subscales
Shyness Unsociability Social avoidance

Child temperament
Negative emotionality .21*** 2.05 .20***
Soothability 2.10* .01 2.12**

Peer Interaction outside school

Frequency 2.12** 2.04 2.05
Psychological engagement 2.32*** 2.23*** 2.33***
Stress .40*** .14** .34***

Social withdrawal at school .26*** .16** .22***

***p < .001. **p < .01. *p < .05.

132 | COPLAN ET AL.

F I G U R E 1 Standardized path coefficients for the final model of stability of social withdrawal subtypes (shyness, social
avoidance, unsociability) over 16 monthsNote. ***p < .001

subscales were significantly and positively associated with stress during peer interactions outside of school, the magni-
tude of these associations was significantly greater for shyness and social avoidance as compared to unsociability
(Fisher’s tests, all p < .001).
Finally, the stability of the CSPS-3 subscales was assessed for a sub-sample of parents who completed this
measure again at Time 3. Given the large degree of participant attrition, these findings should be interpreted with
some caution. Using a cross-lag panel design, we computed a structural equation model (in Amos version 22, Arbuckle
& Wothke, 1999). As summarized in Figure 1, all three subscales at Time 1 significantly and uniquely predicted their
counterparts at Time 3, and there were no significant associations across subscales over time.

3.2 | Linking social withdrawal, peer problems, and internalizing problems

The goal of these analyses was to test a conceptual model linking different forms of social withdrawal, peer problems,
and internalizing problems (social anxiety, depression). Despite the comparatively large proportion of missing data, data
were found to be missing completely at random (using MCAR test), v2 (30, N 5 410) 5 39.588, p 5 .113. We employed
structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood-robust (MLR) estimation in Amos version 22 (Arbuckle &
Wothke, 1999). A hybrid model was specified: (a) forms of social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, avoidance) were
represented by single indicator variables; (b) peer problems were represented by latent indicators as assessed from
parents (SDQ) and teachers (CBS); (c) social anxiety was represented by latent indicators as assessed from parents
(PAS-R) and teachers (CBS); and (d) depressive symptoms were represented by a single indicator variable (item from
parent-rated SDQ). Parental education was also included in the model as a covariate (i.e., we controlled for its associa-
tion with all variables in the model). Models were tested stepwise, starting with a model in which all regression weights
were constrained to zero (Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999).
According to accepted criteria (e.g., Hu & Bentler, 1999), the final model fit the data well, v2 (11, n 5 564) 5 42.3,
p < .001, CFI 5 .94, NFI 5 .923, RMSEA 5 .071. Significant path coefficients for the final model are presented in
Figure 2. Shyness and social avoidance (but not unsociability) were uniquely and significantly associated with peer
problems, which in turn was associated with both symptoms of social anxiety and depression. However, after control-
ling for the effects of peer problems, only the direct effect of shyness remained significant in the prediction of social
anxiety, and only the direct effect of social avoidance remained significant in the prediction of depression. Multigroup
modeling was then employed to evaluate potential gender differences in this model (boys: n 5272, girls: n 5 292). We
compared a base (i.e., unconstrained) model to a model in which measurement weights were constrained to be equal
COPLAN ET AL. | 133

F I G U R E 2 Standardized path coefficients for the final model of paths between subtypes of social withdrawal (shyness,
social avoidance, unsociability), peer problems, depression, and social anxietyNote. Parental education was also included
in the model as a covariate but is not depicted here; error terms are not shown. *p < .05; ***p < .001

across genders. Results indicated no significant gender difference for both the structural model (Dv2 5 .69, Ddf 5 13,
p 5 .97) and the measurement model (Dv2 5 .226, Ddf 5 3, p 5 .98).

4 | DISCUSSION

Socially avoidant children are characterized as possessing a particularly maladaptive combination of social motivations,
including not only the lack of a strong need to seek out social contact, but also a strong desire to actively avoid
opportunities for social interaction (Asendorpf, 1990). Although this form of social withdrawal is postulated to have
substantive negative implications for children’s socioemotional development, there have only been a handful of
previous empirical studies directly assessing this construct among older children and adolescents (e.g., Bowker & Raja,
2011; Coplan et al., 2013). In this study, we sought to develop and validate a new parent-rated measure of social
avoidance for use with young children, and then to examine the unique socioemotional correlates of social avoidance
vis-a-vis other subtypes of social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability).
Our results provide the first indications that social avoidance may also represent a distinct form of social with-
drawal in early childhood. The newly revised CSPS-3 demonstrated good psychometric properties, moderate stability
among the three subscales over a 16-month period, and some preliminary evidence of validity. As well, as compared to
other dimensions of social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability), social avoidance displayed a unique pattern of associa-
tion with indices of socioemotional functioning.

4.1 | Assessing social avoidance with the CSPS-3

One goal of this study was to address a current gap in the extant literature by developing and validating a new parent-
rated assessment of social avoidance for use in early childhood. We adapted a previously well-established parental
report of young children’s shyness and unsociability (CSPS, Coplan et al., 2004) to also include a new subscale assess-
ing social avoidance. The newly modified CSPS-3 displayed the anticipated three-factor structure, with all subscales
demonstrating strong internal reliability. The three subscales were moderately inter-correlated (as might be expected
given that they represent subtypes of the same phenomenon) and evidenced moderate-to-strong stability over a
16-month period. Taken together, our results are the first to suggest that even in early childhood, parents appear to
discriminate among shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance.
134 | COPLAN ET AL.

In terms of preliminary evidence of validity for the new subscale, social avoidance (along with shyness) was associ-
ated with indices of emotion dysregulation (i.e., negative emotionality, a lack of soothability), which are commonly
linked with the development of internalizing problems in early childhood (e.g., Morgan, Izard, & Hyde, 2014). Perhaps
most importantly, consistent with the notion that shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance represent three different
reasons why children might remove themselves from opportunities for peer interaction (Coplan et al., 2015), parent rat-
ings of all three of these constructs were significantly associated with teacher ratings of children’s socially withdrawn
behaviors at school. Importantly, regardless of the motivational and emotional underpinnings that may underlie
children’s socially withdrawn behaviors, there is potential for us to be concerned about all young children who are not
participating in an age-normative frequency of peer interaction. For example, young withdrawn children may not only
miss out on the important and unique developmental benefits of social interaction, but also come to experience
increase negative responses from peers in later childhood when their behaviors increasingly violate social norms (Rubin
et al., 2009).
Of note, only shyness was associated with the reported lower frequency of peer interactions outside of school.
Coplan et al. (2009) found a similar association, and suggested that given that peer interaction opportunities are likely
to be primarily orchestrated by parents at this development stage, parents of shy children may restrict social encoun-
ters to (over-)protect their children from the (perceived) stresses of peer interaction. If such a perception is not as
prominent among parents of unsociable children, this may help to account for the lack of association between this
form of social withdrawal and the frequency of peer contacts outside of school.
However, this perspective does not account for why social avoidance was not negatively associated with peer
interaction outside of school. It may be that a more extensive assessment of children’s social experiences outside of
school might reveal such an association. Notwithstanding, social avoidance was associated with greater stress and
lower psychological engagement during such interactions. Thus, although parents do not report less frequent peer
interactions for their socially avoidant children, avoidant children appear to have found these social exchanges unen-
joyable and stressful.

4.2 | Social withdrawal, peer problems, and symptoms of social anxiety and depression
Having provided initial support for the CSPS-3 as a reliable and valid assessment of social withdrawal in early
childhood, we next evaluated a conceptual model postulating unique pathways from shyness, unsociability, and social
avoidance, to peer problems, to symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Unique direct and indirect paths were
indicated for each of the three forms of social withdrawal. These results add to the specificity of our understanding of
the processes that may underlie the links between social withdrawal and the development of internalizing problems
(Rubin et al., 1991).
For example, our findings add to the growing literature linking young children’s shyness with peer difficulties and
internalizing problems (e.g., Coplan et al., 2008). Controlling for unsociability and social avoidance, shyness was directly
associated with peer problems and, after further controlling for this association, maintained a direct association with
social anxiety. These findings do not bode well for shy children. In early childhood, elevated but sub-clinical levels of
anxiety (Mian, Wainwright, Briggs-Gowan, & Carter, 2011) and higher levels of peer difficulties (Wichstrom, Belsky, &
Berg-Nielsen, 2013) are also predictors of the later development of more serious clinical disorders. It was also of
interest to note that in this model that controls for its common association with social avoidance, shyness was no
longer significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Although anxiety and depressive symptoms are often
co-morbid, anxiety often precedes depression developmentally (Cole, Peeke, Martin, Truglio, & Seroczynski, 1998).
This would suggest that shyness may come to predict the later development of depressive symptoms in older children
(Karevold et al., 2012).
In contrast, after controlling for common associations with shyness and social avoidance, unsociability was not
significantly associated peer problems, social anxiety, or depression. These results further add to the notion that this
particular form of social withdrawal is comparatively benign, particularly in early childhood (Coplan et al., 2004; Harrist
et al., 1997). There is some previous evidence to suggest that unsociability may be associated with peer exclusion in
COPLAN ET AL. | 135

early childhood (e.g., Coplan & Weeks, 2010). It may be that in the current study, controlling for the additionally
included social avoidance subscale attenuated this association.3 Notwithstanding, although the motivational substrates
that underlie unsociability may not carry negative implications for young children’s socioemotional adjustment, it is
worth restating that all forms of socially withdrawn behaviors appear to have negative costs for older children in the
peer group (Coplan et al., 2013).

4.2.1 | Social avoidance

More than 25 years ago, Asendorpf (1990) speculated that social avoidance was the form of social withdrawal that
would confer the greatest and most pervasive risk for socioemotional difficulties upon children. Results from a small
handful of subsequent empirical studies provided some initial support for this postulation among samples of older
children (Coplan et al., 2013) and adolescents (Bowker & Raja, 2011). In the current study, it was of primary interest to
establish whether social avoidance was uniquely associated with indices of socioemotional functioning in early
childhood.
Controlling for shyness and unsociability, social avoidance was directly associated with peer problems and, after
further controlling for this association, maintained a direct association with depressive symptoms. Thus, although both
social avoidance and shyness were (uniquely) associated with peer problems, differential pathways to different types
of internalizing problems (i.e., symptoms of social anxiety vs. depression) were also observed. Taken together, these
results provide the first evidence to suggest that social avoidance may also carry unique risks for socioemotional
functioning in early childhood.
In particular, our findings support the speculation that among forms of social withdrawal, social avoidance may be
most strongly linked with the early development of depression (Coplan et al., 2015). Although depressive symptoms in
the current study were assessed with a (less than optimal) single item, social avoidance was the only form of social
withdrawal to display a significant direct association. Harrist et al. (1997) identified a small sub-group of socially with-
drawn children that were characterized by teachers as being sad. Thus, it may be that socially avoidant children are
experiencing early developing feelings of social anhedonia (Blanchard et al., 2000), which are contributing to their desire
to remove themselves from opportunities for peer contact. However, it remains to be seen if social avoidance in early
childhood predicts the longitudinal development of depression in older children and adolescents. It may also be that
social avoidance itself is predicted from child characteristics that may also precede the development of depression
(e.g., low positive affect).
Although we cannot discount other suggested etiological pathways of the development of social avoidance, direct
support was not found for these postulations in early childhood. For example, social avoidance was directly associated
with peers problems, which in turn predicted social anxiety. However, shyness was not a significant predictor of social
avoidance 16 months later. Notwithstanding, it is possible that over time, cumulative negative peer experiences may
lead older shy children to become increasingly socially avoidant (Bowker & Raja, 2011) and socially anxious (Schmidt &
Fox, 1999). Longitudinal data collected at multiple time points is required to begin to appropriately address these
possibilities.

4.3 | Caveats and directions for future research

This study makes a novel contribution to the extant literature by providing initial evidence to suggest that social avoid-
ance is assessed by parents as a distinct form of social withdrawal in early childhood, and that it is associated with a
unique pattern of socioemotional difficulties. Notwithstanding, some caveats should be considered in interpreting the
results, with an eye toward future directions.
To begin with, the current study was hampered by high rates of missing data among teacher ratings, as well as
substantive attrition among parents at Time 2 and again at Time 3. As well, although the present study benefited from
the additional inclusion of some teacher-rated outcomes, parents provided ratings of social withdrawal as well as
assessments of several of the outcome variables. Future studies should continue to seek to demonstrate associations
136 | COPLAN ET AL.

between parent-rated social withdrawal and relevant constructs assessed via other means, including direct observa-
tions (e.g., peer interaction at school) and self-reports (e.g., loneliness).
Previous evidence is suggestive of more problematic outcomes for socially withdrawn boys compared to girls, par-
ticularly in the peer domain (Doey et al., 2014). However, our findings indicated no significant gender differences in
the SEM model pathways connecting social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and
internalizing problems. We employed a broad assessment of peer problems in the current study. Future studies could
examine links between social withdrawal and more specific components of children’s peer relations (e.g., victimization,
friendship quality).
Longitudinal studies are also required to better elucidate the etiology and implications of early childhood social
avoidance over time. It remains to be seen if the construct that we assessed in early childhood reliability connects with
social avoidance as currently measured in older children and adolescents. In addition, it will be important to directly
and more intensively assess symptoms of depression and other constructs pertaining to its development (e.g., social
anhedonia, attributional biases) to better understand possible links with social avoidance over time. Such work would
also inform efforts for intervention. For example, as mentioned previously, there has been some recent initial success
reported for interventions specifically designed to assist extremely shy young children (Chronis-Tuscano et al., 2015).
A better understanding of the underpinnings of social avoidance could lead to similar advances in such targeted early
interventions for this form of social withdrawal.
Finally, there is growing interest in potential cultural differences in the meanings and implications of multiple forms
of social withdrawal (Chen, 2010). For example, in collectivistic countries such as China, children who remove them-
selves from the peer group (for any reason) may be viewed as selfish and deviant and thus evoke negative responses
from peers and teachers (e.g., Li et al., 2016). Social avoidance may also have other culturally specific manifestations,
such as the phenomenon of hikikomori, an extreme form of self-imposed social isolation among Japanese youth
(Furlong, 2008).
Overall, our results suggest that social avoidance in young children can be reliably differentiated from other forms
of social withdrawal and is associated with a distinctive pattern of socioemotional difficulties. Notwithstanding, we are
only just beginning to understand the potential implications of social avoidance for children’s well-being. The new
measure described in the current study can be a useful tool for advancing our knowledge of the development and
outcomes associated with social avoidance and other forms of social withdrawal.

AC KNOWLEDG MENT S

The authors wish to thank Kristen Archbell, Mandana Armer, Alexa Baird, Alicia Bartlett, Julie Dick, Katie Dubeau,
Sarah Gardiner, Narges Khazraei, Alison Kirkpatrick, Gabriella Nocita, Jessica Paul, Noelle Strickland, and Emily
Thomas for their help in the collection and coding of data. This research was supported by a Social Science and
Humanities Research Council of Canada grant (435-2012-1173) to authors Coplan and Rose-Krasnor.

NOTES
1
Thank you to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this novel interpretation.
2
Of note, subsequent to the creation of these items and commencement of data collection for this study, two self-report
measures of social withdrawal subtypes (including subscales of shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance) were published
for use with adolescents (Bowker & Raja, 2011) and young adults (Nelson, 2013).
3
The correlation between unsociability and the peer problems subscale from the parent-rated SDQ was: r 5 .23, p < .001.

OR CI D

Robert J. Coplan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3696-2108

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How to cite this article: Coplan RJ, Ooi LL, Xiao B, Rose-Krasnor L. Assessment and implications of social with-
drawal in early childhood: A first look at social avoidance. Social Development. 2018;27:125–139. https://doi.
org/10.1111/sode.12258