Zhu Jingjing, Liu Mowei, Shu Xin, Xiang Shuhui, Jiang Yaoqin, Li Yan
Early Childhood Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada.
Front Psychol. 2022 Dec 7;13:1009528. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1009528. eCollection 2022.
Social avoidance has been found to be related to negative social adjustment, yet evidence of the relationship between social avoidance and social adjustment is very limited in suburban preschoolers in China. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms that help to explain the associations between social avoidance and socio-emotional adjustment remain poorly considered. The goal of the present study was to examine the moderating effect of marital conflict in the link between social avoidance and indices of socio-emotional functioning among young children in mainland China. Participants were 256 children aged from 49 to 72 months (125 boys, 131 girls, = 59.06 months, = 6.58) attending preschools/kindergartens in suburban areas of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Multi-source assessments were employed, with mothers reporting marital conflict as well as rating their children's social withdrawal (i.e., social avoidance, shyness, unsociability), and teachers assessing indices of children's socio-emotional functioning at school (i.e., anxious-fearful behavior, peer exclusion, and loneliness). Children were asked about their loneliness. Among the results, social avoidance was positively associated with anxious-fearful behavior, peer exclusion, and loneliness (marginal significance). Moreover, as hypothesized, marital conflict was found to exacerbate the relations between social avoidance and peer exclusion, and loneliness. Results are discussed in terms of the etiology and implications of social avoidance among young children in mainland China.
研究发现社交回避与消极的社会适应有关，但在中国城郊学龄前儿童中，社交回避与社会适应之间关系的证据非常有限。此外，有助于解释社交回避与社会情感适应之间关联的潜在机制仍未得到充分考虑。本研究的目的是检验婚姻冲突在中国大陆幼儿社交回避与社会情感功能指标之间的联系中所起的调节作用。研究对象为256名年龄在49至72个月之间的儿童（125名男孩，131名女孩，平均年龄=59.06个月，标准差=6.58），他们就读于中华人民共和国上海市郊区的幼儿园。采用多源评估法，由母亲报告婚姻冲突情况，并对孩子的社交退缩情况（即社交回避、害羞、不爱交际）进行评分，由教师评估孩子在学校的社会情感功能指标（即焦虑恐惧行为、同伴排斥和孤独感）。同时询问孩子们关于他们孤独感的情况。研究结果显示，社交回避与焦虑恐惧行为、同伴排斥和孤独感呈正相关（具有边缘显著性）。此外，正如所假设的那样，发现婚姻冲突会加剧社交回避与同伴排斥以及孤独感之间的关系。研究结果将从中国大陆幼儿社交回避的病因及影响方面进行讨论。
