Anxious Solitude, Unsociability, and Peer Exclusion in Middle Childhood: A Multitrait–Multimethod Matrix
Open accessAbstract
This study examines convergent and divergent validity for middle childhood anxious solitude, unsociability, and peer exclusion as assessed by five informants (peers, teachers, observers, the self, and parents). Participants were 163 (67 male, 96 female) third grade children (M age = 8.70 years). Parent reports were available for a subset of the sample (N = 95). Validity was analyzed via multitrait–multimethod correlation matrices and structural equation models. Results indicate that anxious solitude and peer exclusion have better convergent and divergent validity than unsociability, although there is evidence of shared method variance for all constructs. Peers have the best combination of convergent and divergent validity, and parents, the worst; teachers, observers, and the self demonstrated mid‐level validity.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Boys tend to be more excluded by peers prior to the middle school transition than girls.
“they tend to be more excluded prior to the MST [18, 19, 48 ]”
From Co-Development of Anxious Solitude and Social Anxiety Symptoms from Middle Childhood Through Early Adolescence: Increased Transactions After the Middle School Transition (2026) · cites this paper as [48]
The Discussion’s Gender Differences section (page unavailable) reports greater peer difficulties, including exclusion, among anxiously solitary boys than anxiously solitary girls in early middle childhood. The Results’ Gender Differences section (page unavailable) finds a stronger association between anxious solitude and exclusion for boys. Neither passage establishes that boys generally are more excluded than girls prior to the middle school transition. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe decrease in AS from fall to spring of 6th grade seen only in boys with initially heightened SAS after the transition may have occurred because boys tend to be more excluded prior to the transition and therefore may have perceived a greater improvement in peer exclusion after it.
“This effect may have occurred for AS boys but not girls because they tend to be more excluded prior to the MST [18, 19, 48 ] and therefore might have perceived a greater improvement in peer exclusion after the MST.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.213 · Cited by 5,436 · see citing works
Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix
Steiger, J. H. (1980) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.87.2.245 · Cited by 4,621 · see citing works
Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders in Girls
Albano, A. M., & Krain, A. (2005) · Issues in Clinical Child Psychology · doi:10.1007/0-306-48674-1_3 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 24
- Bowker A Bukowski W Zargarpour S Hoza B A structural and functional analysis of a two-dimensional model of social isolation Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 1998 44 447 463
- Bukowski WM Age differences in children’s memory of information about aggressive, socially withdrawn, and prosociable boys and girls Child Development 1990 61 13 26 2245727
- Burgess KB Wojslawowicz JC Rubin KH Rose-Krasnor L Booth-LaForce C Social information processing and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive children: Does friendship matter? Child Development 2006 77 371 383 16611178 PMC3800105
- Byrne BM A primer of LISREL: Basic applications and programming for confirmatory factor analytic models 1989 Springer-Verlag New York
- Campbell DT Fiske DW Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix Psychological Bulletin 1959 56 81 105 13634291
- Coie JD Dodge KA Kupersmidt JB Asher SR Coie JD Peer group behavior and social status Peer rejection in childhood 1990 17 59 Cambridge University Press New York
- Coplan RJ Schafer C Assessing nonsocial play in early childhood: Conceptual and methodological approaches Play diagnosis and assessment 2000 563 598 Wiley New York 2nd ed.
- Coplan RJ Gavinski-Molina MH Lagace-Seguin DG Wichmann C When girls versus boys play alone: Nonsocial play and adjustment in kindergarten Developmental Psychology 2001 37 464 474 11444483
- Coplan RJ Prakash K O’Neil K Armer M Do you ‘want’ to play? Distinguishing between conflicted shyness and social disinterest in early childhood Developmental Psychology 2004 40 244 258 14979764
- Coplan RJ Rubin KH Fox NA Calkins SD Stewart SL Being alone, playing alone, and acting alone: Distinguishing among reticence and passive and active solitude in young children Child Development 1994 65 129 137 8131643
- Crozier WR Burnham M Age-related differences in children’s understanding of shyness British Journal of Developmental Psychology 1990 8 179 185
- Gazelle H Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children and heterogeneity in peer relations Developmental Psychology in press PMC6524523 18999325
- Gazelle H Ladd GW Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood Child Development 2003 74 257 278 12625449
- Gazelle H Putallaz M Li Y Grimes CL Kupersmidt JB Coie JD Anxious solitude across contexts: Girls’ interactions with familiar and unfamiliar peers Child Development 2005 76 227 246 15693769
- Gazelle H Rudolph KD Moving toward and away from the world: Social approach and avoidance trajectories in anxious solitary youth Child Development 2004 75 829 849 15144489
- Harrist AW Zaia AF Bates JE Dodge KA Pettit GS Subtypes of social withdrawal in early childhood: Sociometric status and social-cognitive differences across four years Child Development 1997 68 278 294 9180002
- Lance CE Noble CL Scullen SE A critique of the correlated trait-correlated method and correlated uniqueness models for multitrait-multimethod data Psychological Methods 2002 7 228 244 12090412
- Ledingham JE Younger A Schwartzman AE Bergeron G Agreement among teacher, peer, and self-ratings of children’s aggression, withdrawal, and likability Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 1982 10 363 372 7175043
- Magnusson D Stattin H Damon W Lerner RM The person in context: A holistic-interactionistic approach Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development 2006 400 464 Wiley New York 6th ed.
- Morison P Masten AS Peer reputation in middle childhood as a predictor of adaptation in adolescence: A seven-year follow-up Child Development 1991 62 991 1007 1756670
- Pronin E Lin DY Ross L The bias blind spot: Perceptions of bias in self versus others Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2002 28 369 381
- Rubin KH Mills RS The many faces of social isolation in childhood Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1988 56 916 924 3204203
- Rubin KH Wojslawowicz JC Rose-Krasnor L Booth-LaForce C Burgess KB The best friendships of shy/withdrawn children: Prevalence, stability, and relationship quality Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 2006 34 143 157 16485175 PMC3800108
- Serbin LA Cooperman JM Peters PL Lehoux PM Stack DM Schwartzman AE Intergenerational transfer of psychosocial risk in women with childhood histories of aggression, withdrawal, or aggression and withdrawal Developmental Psychology 1998 34 1246 1262 9823509
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Social Withdrawal in Childhood
Rubin, K. H., Coplan, R. J., & Bowker, J. C. (2009) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163642 · Cited by 1,503 · see citing works
Rubin, K. H., Bukowski, W. M., & Bowker, J. C. (2015) · Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science · doi:10.1002/9781118963418.childpsy405 · Cited by 430 · see citing works
Barzeva, S. A., Richards, J. S., Meeus, W. H. J., & Oldehinkel, A. J. (2020) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579419001354 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Social anxiety in childhood: Bridging developmental and clinical perspectives
Gazelle, H., & Rubin, K. H. (2010) · New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development · doi:10.1002/cd.259 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Self-citationCommentary: Bashful Boys and Coy Girls: A Review of Gender Differences in Childhood Shyness
Gazelle, H., Peter, D., & Karkavandi, M. A. (2014) · Sex Roles · doi:10.1007/s11199-014-0361-0 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationLadd, G. W., Kochenderfer‐Ladd, B., Ettekal, I., & Clifford, B. N. (2021) · The Handbook of Solitude · doi:10.1002/9781119576457.ch9 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Gazelle, H., & Wu, Q. (2026) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-026-01991-y
Self-citation
- Authors
- Spangler, T., & Gazelle, H.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Greensboro (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gazelle, Heidi
- ORCID
- Gazelle, Heidi
- Venue
- Social Development
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-09-14
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 833-856
- ISSN
- 0961-205X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9507
- PMC
- PMC6524144
- OpenAlex
- W2053136400
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 6.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Social Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (L40 MH081241, K01MH076237)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- unsociability, peer exclusion, middle childhood, convergent validity, discriminant validity, informant differences, peer relationships, third grade
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
