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Close Friendship as Understood by Socially Withdrawn, Anxious Early Adolescents

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore the social cognitions of socially withdrawn anxious early-adolescents regarding the concept of friendship. From a pool of children referred to an after-school social skills and social contact program, 38 withdrawn/anxious participants were identified and matched with community controls. Interviews regarding their expectations of a best friend revealed that withdrawn/anxious participants tended to focus on their own needs in their concepts of friendship and frequently referred to friendship as a source of help. They also tended to ascribe their best friendship to the circumstantial interactions of classmates or neighbors. Control participants more frequently mentioned the intimacy of a close friendship, which is considered a core defining feature of true friendship. Within the community sample, older participants displayed a more mature understanding of friendship, whereas there were no age effects within the socially anxious group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada, K1N 6N5

    Barry H. Schneider & Nicholas G. Tessier

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  1. Barry H. Schneider
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  2. Nicholas G. Tessier
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Correspondence to Barry H. Schneider.

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Thanks to Alain Desrochers for his assistance with the analyses of language ability.

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Schneider, B.H., Tessier, N.G. Close Friendship as Understood by Socially Withdrawn, Anxious Early Adolescents. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 38, 339–351 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0071-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-007-0071-8

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