This was inspired by a study conducted on socially withdrawn children:
What I found most interesting in the article, “”Shyness, Unsociability, and Socio-Economic Functioning at Preschool: The Protective Role of Peer Acceptance” was that although both children who are shy and unsocial fall into the socially withdrawn category, there was a clear distinction between the two in terms of the kinds of problems each led to – whether it was mainly due to the child’s relationship with the teacher or problems with joining peer activities. Shyness was linked more to teacher-related internalizing problems, whereas unsociability created a preference in the child for solidary play in the research experiment (Sette, S. et al). Although they are both related to lower levels of peer acceptance in general, this finding arouses curiosity for me about the following questions:
- Whether a child’s negative relationship with a parental or authority figure has something to do with the development of issues in student-teacher relationships as well, since a predisposition to internalizing problems from their home environment may carry on to having a higher emotional need from the teacher during school hours. They may have, for example, developed methods of being more emotionally in-tune with their caregivers as a learned mechanism of getting the emotional comfort they need from a parent, hence giving rise to a more “shy” personality or at least being perceived that way from people in their social environment. This can potentially be an underlying issue behind their shy behavior as opposed to other children.
- What do you think about this idea, do you agree or disagree, and what particular events from your childhood can you describe that mirrors your experience whether you were the type with a more close or distant relationship with your teachers?
- Whether children with more unsociable personalities who prefer solidary play over engagement in play and activities with their peers may have to do with different ways in which these children have had to adapt to their environment, based on the circumstances of their family and home life. The article mentions socioeconomic factors as a contributing force, so taking that into account, a child growing up in a poor household with limited toys or other circumstances which discouraged their “play time” may have adapted by getting used to things like imaginative play over trying to engage with other children who are more engaged with external activities. In other words, their different “playing” methods may create a larger distance between their peers, on a social level.
- What types of play activities did you engage in the most, as a child and how does that relate to the kinds of relationships you had with your peers growing up?
- As the article mentions, it also means that they are less fearful to be alone so this may have to do with, for example, having grown up in in a household where the child’s parents were at work or away from home most of the time or otherwise emotionally unavailable to the child for various reasons, so naturally this child would be used to playing alone more and have grown accustomed to it – versus a child who always had their parents around supervising everything they did and engaged in all of their play activities.
- Can you relate to this from early memories of your childhood? If so, would you consider unsociability to be associated with “fearfulness” as shown by this study?
“Shyness during early childhood represents one of the principle risk factors for the later development of social anxiety disorder…and negative social outcomes.”
“Peer exclusion increased the positive association between shyness and children’s reported preference to play alone (rather than with peers).”
“Unsociable children manifest a non-fearful preference to play alone.”
Citation: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10826-016-0638-8
I’d love to hear your feedback and personal opinions and experiences over this topic. Please feel free to share any thoughts!
Citation: Sette, S., Zava, F., Baumgartner, E., Baiocco, R., & Coplan, R. J. (2016). Shyness, Unsociability, and Socio-Emotional Functioning at Preschool: The Protective Role of Peer Acceptance. Journal of Child and Family Studies,26(4), 1196-1205. doi:10.1007/s10826-016-0638-8
