Social and school adjustment of shy and aggressive children in China

Abstract

Fifty-seven extremely shy-inhibited children, 59 extremely aggressive children, and 352 of their average counterparts, 8 and 10 years-of-age, residing in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China, were compared on sociometric nominations of peer acceptance and rejection, teachers' assessments of school related competencies, a self-report measure of depression, and Chinese measures of normative school behavior, honorship, leadership, and academic achievement. The results indicated that, as in the Western literature, aggressive children in China were more likely to have difficulties in adjustment than their average age-mates. Inconsistent with the results in Western literature, shy-inhibited children in China were found to be more accepted by peers than their average age-mates. Furthermore, compared with the average and aggressive children, shy-inhibited children were most likely to be considered for honorship and leadership positions and were regarded by teachers as the most competent in school. Finally, the three comparison groups did not differ on a measure of depression. Children in China, however, evidenced higher depression scores than a comparison group in the West. Given these findings, it seems to be important to examine, in the future, the processes of socialization that lead to social adjustment and maladjustment of shy-inhibited and aggressivedisruptive children in non-Western cultures.