Children’s judgements of social withdrawal behaviours

Ding et al. (2015) demonstrated that Chinese children discriminate between the three subtypes of social withdrawal: shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance. This commentary on the Ding et al. paper highlights the need to further explore: 1) children’s understanding of the implications of being shy, unsociable, or socially avoidant, including assessing these which we know are associated with outcomes for socially withdrawn children; 2) what additional subtypes might exist naturally within the Chinese culture; 3) consider the implications of social withdrawal on children’s developing social skills.