Ma Xinyue, Yang Panpan, Li Dan, Zhou Jiaxi, Liu Mengting, Han Xianguo, Liu Junsheng, Chen Xinyin
School of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
School of Mental health, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2025 Jul 15. doi: 10.1007/s10964-025-02217-5.
Social assertiveness and prosociality are two related but distinct aspects of social competence that are important to youth's social success. They are likely co-occurrence and interact dynamically over time, but their interdependence and interaction have been overlooked in previous research. This study examined the joint developmental trajectories of the two aspects from middle childhood to early adolescence and tested their associations with aggression, shyness, academic performance and depressive symptoms. Participants included a sample of elementary school children in China (initially N = 1012, 51.2% girls, initial M = 9.49 years). Data were collected each year for 4 consecutive years from self-reports and peer nominations. The parallel-process latent class growth model identified three balanced and two imbalanced trajectories: (1) low-stable assertiveness and low-increasing prosociality, (2) both moderate-stable, (3) both high-stable, (4) low-stable assertiveness and high-increasing prosociality, and (5) high-increasing assertiveness and high-decreasing prosociality. In addition, academic performance was a promoting factor whereas the depressive symptom was a weakening factor for the co-developmental trajectories; shyness was positively associated with the two imbalanced developmental groups; aggression was positively associated with the assertiveness-predominant group and negatively associated with the prosociality-predominant group. These findings reveal the heterogeneity of the co-developmental patterns of assertiveness and prosociality and underline the necessity for tailored optimal interventions of social competence according to the diverse characteristics of children.
社交自信和亲社会行为是社交能力中两个相关但不同的方面，对青少年的社交成功很重要。它们可能同时出现，并随着时间动态相互作用，但它们的相互依存和相互作用在以往研究中被忽视了。本研究考察了从中童年到青少年早期这两个方面的联合发展轨迹，并测试了它们与攻击行为、害羞、学业成绩和抑郁症状的关联。参与者包括中国的一组小学生样本（最初N = 1012，女孩占51.2%，初始平均年龄M = 9.49岁）。连续4年每年通过自我报告和同伴提名收集数据。并行过程潜在类别增长模型确定了三种平衡轨迹和两种不平衡轨迹：（1）低稳定性社交自信和低增长亲社会行为，（2）两者均为中等稳定性，（3）两者均为高稳定性，（4）低稳定性社交自信和高增长亲社会行为，以及（5）高增长社交自信和高下降亲社会行为。此外，学业成绩是共同发展轨迹的促进因素，而抑郁症状是削弱因素；害羞与两个不平衡发展组呈正相关；攻击行为与以社交自信为主的组呈正相关，与以亲社会行为为主的组呈负相关。这些发现揭示了社交自信和亲社会行为共同发展模式的异质性，并强调了根据儿童的不同特征进行有针对性的社交能力优化干预的必要性。
