Adolescent Outcomes of Social Functioning in Chinese Children

Adolescent Outcomes of Social Functioning inChinese Children

Xinyin ChenUniversity of Western Ontario, Canada

Kenneth H. RubinUniversity of Maryland, USA

Bo-shu Li and Dan LiShanghai Teachers’ University, People’s Republic of China

A sample of Chinese children in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China,initially aged 8 and 10 years, participated in this four-year longitudinalproject. Information on social functioning including sociability-leadership,aggression-disruption, and shyness-sensitivity was collected from peerassessments in the original study. Data on indexes of social and schooladjustment, including peer acceptance, teachers’ perceptions of school-related competence, leadership, academic achievement, adjustment pro-blems, and self-perceptions of competence, were collected from multiplesources in the follow-up study. Consistent with Western literature,sociability-leadership positively predicted indexes of social and schooladjustment. Aggression was positively associated with adolescent maladjust-ment for boys and adjustment for girls. Finally, inconsistent with the Westernliterature, shyness-sensitivity in childhood was positively predictive ofindexes of adolescent adjustment such as teacher-assessed competence,leadership, and academic achievement.

It has been argued that children’s social functioning is important in so faras it relates to markers of social and psychological adjustment such as peeracceptance, school achievement and self-regard (e.g. Havighurst, 1953;

Requests for reprints should be sent to Xinyin Chen, Department of Psychology, Universityof Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5C2.

The research described in this paper was supported by grants from the Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council of Canada and a Faculty Scholars Award from the William T.Grant Foundation. We would like to thank Zhen-yun Li and Lei-ping Xu at ShanghaiTeachers’ University, People’s Republic of China, who aided in data collection. We also thankthe children in Shanghai, who participated in this longitudinal project.

c 1999 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 1999, 23 (1), 199–223

200 CHEN ET AL.

Sullivan, 1953). Furthermore, it is believed that children’s social function-ing may have a long-term impact on adaptive and maladaptive develop-ment (Kohlberg, Ricks, & Snarey, 1984; Kupersmidt, Coie, & Dodge, 1990;Parker & Asher, 1987). These arguments have recently receivedsubstantial support from a variety of research programmes in Westerncultures (e.g. Ledingham & Schwartzman, Morison & Masten, 1991;Rubin, Chen, & Hymel, 1993). In general, it has been found that childrenwho are sociable and co-operative are likely to be accepted by peers andadults, academically competent in school, and emotionally stable (e.g.Rubin et al., 1993). In contrast, children who display disruptive andaggressive behaviours tend to have dif�culties in social relationships,academic performance, and other areas of social adjustment (e.g. Morison& Masten, 1991). It has also been found that children who are shy andsocially inhibited are likely to be rejected or isolated by peers (Asendorpf,1991; Rubin, et al., 1993). Moreover, these children are more likely thanothers to feel worthless and report loneliness and social dissatisfaction (e.g.Rubin et al., 1993). Finally, �ndings based on longitudinal projects haveindicated that childhood social functioning is associated with adjustmentand psychological well-being in adolescence and adulthood (e.g. Bierman& Wargo, 1995; Caspi, Elder, & Bem, 1987, 1988; Coie, Terry, Lenox,Lochman, & Hyman, 1995; Hymel, Rubin, Rowden, & LeMare, 1990;Morison & Masten, 1991; Rubin, Chen, McDougall, Bowker, &McKinnon, 1995). Speci�cally, it has been found that socially competentchildren are likely to become well adjusted and that aggressive andanxious-withdrawn children tend to have problems such as delinquency,school failure, and psychopathology in later years (Coie et al., 1995; Hymelet al., 1990; Masten et al., 1995; Morison & Masten, 1991; Rubin et al.,1995).

In a longitudinal project, for example, Rubin et al. (1995) found thatsociable-competent children had secure and intimate social relationshipsand positive self-regard in adolescence. In contrast, childhood aggressionpredicted adolescent externalising problems such as delinquent activities.Furthermore, early shy-anxious behaviour was positively associated withadolescent internalising symptoms including felt insecurity and negativeself-perceptions of social competence and self-worth. Similar �ndings havebeen reported recently by Boivin, Hymel, and Bukowski (1995).

Researchers have found that similar behaviours that re�ect constructs ofsociability, aggression-disruption, and shyness-inhibition exist in Westernand non-Western cultures such as China (Kagan & Moss, 1962; Watrous &Hsu, 1963), England (Stevenson-Hinde & Shouldice, 1993), Japan(Hayashi, Toyana, & Quay, 1976), Kenya and Thailand (Weisz, Sigman,Weiss, & Mosk, 1993). Thus, the production of prosocial-sociable,aggressive and shy-anxious behaviours may be cross-culturally universal

ADOLESCENT OUTCOMES OF SOCIAL FUNCTIONING 201

(e.g. Kagan, 1981; Quay, 1986; Whiting & Edwards, 1988). Nevertheless, ithas been argued that the judgement and evaluation of social behaviours asadaptive or maladaptive may be in�uenced by cultural values and socialconventions (Benedict, 1934; Bornstein, 1995; Chen & Kaspar, in press;Gresham, 1986). Behaviours that are perceived as deviant and abnormal inWestern cultures may be acceptable in other cultures. And, behavioursthat are valued in the West may be regarded as maladaptive in othercultures. Thus, it is possible that socially adaptive behaviours aredifferentially de�ned across cultures. Therefore, it would appear importantto understand how cultural factors may in�uence the processes by whichspeci�c social behaviours lead to different outcomes in different cultures.Recently, researchers have begun to investigate cross-cultural differencesand similarities in the meanings, expressions, and correlates of sociallyadaptive and maladaptive social behaviours in children (e.g. Krispin,Sternberg, & Lamb, 1992; Chen, Rubin, & Li, 1995a; Chen, Rubin, & Sun,1992; Weisz et al., 1993). However, most reports, thus far, have been of across-sectional design thereby providing little information about develop-mental patterns and pathways.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the developmentalsigni�cance of social competence, aggression, and shyness-inhibition inChinese children. Data on these constructs were gathered from a sample ofChinese children in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. Follow-up dataconcerning children’s social adjustment, school performance, and self-perceived competence and self-worth were collected four years later. Wesought to examine whether early social functioning could predictadolescent outcomes in the Chinese children.

The Cultural Background of Chinese Children

Achieving and maintaining social order and interpersonal harmony are theprimary concerns in both traditional and contemporary collectivisticChinese societies. Individuals are encouraged to restrain personal desiresfor the bene�ts and interests of the collective. The expression ofindividuals’ needs or striving for autonomous behaviours is consideredsel�sh and socially unacceptable (Ho, 1986). Consistently, the task ofsocialisation is to help children to learn how to control individualistic actsand to reduce unique individual characteristics, to develop collectivisticideology and behaviour, and �nally to make contributions to theachievement and welfare of the collective (Chen & Kaspar, in press).

Collectivism is re�ected in various political, social, and academic aspectsof school education in China. According to the State Educational Outline,the educational goals in China are to help students develop in moral,intellectual and physical aspects and ‘‘to become well-educated workers

202 CHEN ET AL.

imbued with socialist consciousness’’ (Mao in Red Flag, 1970, p. 110; seealso The People’s Daily, 1993, 2, 27). Among the three aspects of schooleducation, collectivistic moral education is primary; it governs and servesas a basis for social, academic, and physical activities. Students in Chineseschools, from kindergarten to graduate school, are required to attendregular political-moral classes in which collectivistic principles andrequirements are systematically illustrated. In addition, children are oftenrequired to participate in extensive extracurricular group activities that areorganised by formal organisations such as the Young Pioneers, the YouthLeague, and the class committee. During these activities, children areencouraged to co-operate with each other and to maintain harmoniousrelationships in the peer group. Moreover, children are expected to learnskills and behaviours that are required for group functioning such asobedience, conformity, and interdependence.

Furthermore, children’s social performance is regularly evaluated byteachers, peers, and self in Chinese schools, mainly according to its effectson the interests of the collective. The results of these evaluations are oftenposted on bulletin boards or announced in public situations, such as classmeetings. Because it is believed that awareness of shame may force aperson to improve his/her performance, children who have social andbehavioural problems are often humiliated, both privately and publicly, bytheir teachers, parents, and peers.

Due to political, cultural, and economic factors, there is a low mobilityof population in Chinese society; families seldom move from one place toanother. Consequently, children in one area usually attend the same schoolfor many years. As families live close to each other, children often engagein social interactions after school including playing and studying together.Stable and extensive social contact may represent one of the uniquefeatures of socioecological conditions for children’s social functioning anddevelopment in China.

Social Functioning and Adjustment in ChineseChildrenGiven this social and cultural background, it is not dif�cult to understandthat, like in the West, prosocial-co-operative behaviour is encouraged andpraised in Chinese culture. In contrast, disruptive-antisocial behaviour isstrictly prohibited because it may threaten the harmony of the group. Thus,consistent with the Western literature (e.g. Rubin et al., 1995), wehypothesised that sociable and prosocial behaviour in childhood wouldpredict indices of adolescent adjustment including peer acceptance, school-related competence, leadership, and academic achievement. In contrast,childhood aggression-disruption was expected to predict externalising


problems, dif�culties in peer relationships, and poor academic perfor-mance in adolescence.

Social inhibition, which is often manifested in shy, withdrawn, andsensitive behaviours, has been conceptualised as being derived fromcon�ictual approach-avoidance motives (e.g. Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993).Behavioural patterns that re�ect the construct of shyness-inhibition havebeen observed in many cultures such as China (Chen et al., in press a; Pan,1994), England (Stevenson-Hinde & Shouldice, 1993), Germany (Asen-dorpf, 1991), Israel (Krispin et al., 1992), Korea (Farver, Kim, & Lee,1995), and Sweden (Broberg, Lamb, & Hwang, 1990). The notion ofshyness, or hai xiu in Mandarin (e.g. Modern Chinese Dictionary, 1986), asan anxious and reticent reaction to stressful novel situations or socialevaluations, is virtually identical to that described in Western Literature(e.g. Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993). Nevertheless, the phenomenon may beviewed, and responded to, differently across cultures.

Shy and inhibited behaviours are regarded as socially immature andmaladaptive in Western, particularly North American, individualisticcultures (Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993). In these cultures, there appears tobe an endorsement of assertive and competitive behaviours. Thus, thesocially inhibited child may be at a distinct disadvantage relative to his/hermore assertive age-mates. As shy-inhibited behaviour is unlikely to causenegative outcomes for the group, this behaviour may not be regarded asmaladaptive by peers and adults in the collectivistic Chinese culture.Furthermore, because group functioning requires behavioural restraint,obedience and submission, shy-inhibited behaviour may be positivelyvalued and encouraged.

Indeed, in Confucian philosophy, inhibition and self-restraint areconsidered indices of accomplishment, mastery, and maturity (Feng,1962; King & Bond, 1985); shy, reticent, and inhibited children arebelieved to be well behaved and understanding (e.g. Ho, 1986; Tseng &Hsu, 1969–70). Children are trained by adults to control their emotions andbehaviours as early as the age of 4 years (King & Bond, 1985). Empirically,it has been found that shyness-social inhibition in early and middlechildhood is concurrently associated with peer acceptance in Chinesechildren (Chen et al., 1992). Further, it has been found that behaviouralinhibition in toddlerhood is differently perceived and responded to byChinese and North American mothers (Chen et al., in press). Speci�cally,inhibition was associated with maternal disappointment, rejection, andpunishment orientation in the North American sample, whereas it wasassociated with maternal warmth and acceptance in the Chinese sample.

Positive evaluations of shy and inhibited behaviour in China may also berelated to its stable social environment. For example, the extensive peercontact that Chinese children have in the stable school and neighbourhood

204 CHEN ET AL.

environment may reduce the stress of interpersonal interactions andprovide multiple opportunities for children to establish intimate socialrelationships and support systems. These social conditions may beparticularly bene�cial for shy-inhibited children who often experiencedif�culties interacting with others and exhibiting competent behaviours instressful situations (Fox et al., 1995).

Taken together, it would seem reasonable to argue that shy-inhibitedChinese children might not have problems in adjustment. The socialacceptance and positive feedback that shy-inhibited children receive mightincrease their con�dence and reinforce their competent performance,which would ultimately lead to adaptive development. As such, wehypothesised that shy-inhibited Chinese children would continue tobehave in a socially appropriate manner and to adjust well to theadolescent social environment.

Social Functioning and Self-PerceptionsIt has been found that sociable and prosocial children are likely to havepositive perceptions of their social competence and relationships (Morison& Masten, 1991; Rubin et al., 1993, 1995). Moreover, these children oftendevelop generally positive feelings about themselves (Morison & Masten,1991). Consistently, we expected that childhood sociability would predictpositive self-perceptions of social and behavioural competencies andgeneral self-worth in Chinese adolescents.

In Western cultures, it has been found that aggressive children tend tohave biased self-perceptions and often overestimate their social compe-tence (e.g. Hymel, Bowker, & Woody, 1993). Despite marked socialbehavioural problems, aggressive children appear not to develop negativeself-perceptions of their social skills (Boivin, Thomassin, & Alain, 1989;Hymel et al., 1993; Rubin et al., 1993). Some researchers have suggestedthat such in�ated self-perceptions may result from ego defensiveness anddenial and inability to make appropriate social comparisons (Asher,Parkhurst, Hymel, & Williams, 1990).

Due to the cultural and social conditions in Chinese schools, therelations between aggression-disruption and self-perceptions of compe-tence and self-worth in Chinese children may be different from thosefound in Western children. As we mentioned earlier, school performance isregularly evaluated and publicised in Chinese schools. As a result, it maybe dif�cult for children, including those who are aggressive, to havein�ated or ‘‘inaccurate’’ self-perceptions of their social competence andstatus. When aggressive children are faced with their behavioural problemsand social dif�culties, they may develop negative self-images and viewthemselves as socially incompetent and worthless. Given this background,


we hypothesised that childhood aggression would negatively predict self-perceived social and behavioural competence and self-worth in adoles-cence.

Unlike aggressive-disruptive behaviour, shy, restrained, and withdrawnbehaviour has been consistently associated with, and predictive of,negative self-perceptions and internalising problems, such as depression,in Western children (e.g. Boivin et al., 1989; Hoza, Molina, Bukowski, &Sippola, 1995; Rubin et al., 1993, 1995). Given our hypothesis that earlyshy-sensitive behaviour would predict adaptive outcomes in adolescence,however, we predicted that shy-sensitive Chinese children would notdevelop internalising problems as adolescents. Rather, we hypothesisedthat childhood shyness-inhibition would be positively associated with self-perceived social, behavioural, and general competence in adolescence.

Finally, it has been reported that sex differences exist in thedevelopment of social functioning (e.g. Caspi et al., 1987, 1988; Morison& Masten, 1991). For example, it has been found that aggression isgenerally more stable in boys than in girls (Coie et al., 1995) and thatshyness is less likely to be associated with negative outcomes for girls thanfor boys (Caspi et al., 1988). Given that aggression may be relatively moretolerated for boys and that shy-inhibited behaviour may be moreacceptable for girls in Chinese culture (Ho, 1986), we were interested inexploring the moderating effects of sex on social development.

In summary, in an attempt to expand our previous research (Chen et al.,1992; Chen, Rubin, & Li, 1995c), we sought to examine developmentaloutcomes of social functioning in Chinese children. Speci�cally, we soughtto examine the links between childhood sociability-leadership, aggression-disruption, and shyness-inhibition, on the one hand, and adolescentadjustment including peer acceptance and rejection, school-related socialcompetence, leadership, honourship, externalising and internalisingbehavioural problems, and academic achievement, on the other hand.Furthermore, we sought to examine the relations between childhood socialbehaviours and self-perceptions of social and behavioural competence andgeneral self-worth.

METHOD

Participants

Participants in the original sample were second and fourth grade childrenin two ordinary primary schools which were randomly selected inShanghai, P. R. China. There were 261 children (134 boys and 127 girls)in the second grade and 219 children (113 boys and 106 girls) in the fourthgrade. There were six classes at each grade level, with approximately 40students in each class. The mean ages of the children in second and fourth

206 CHEN ET AL.

grades were 7 years, 11 months (SD= 8 months) and 10 years, 1 month(SD = 8 months) respectively. Further information concerning this samplecan be found in our previous reports (Chen et al., 1992; Chen et al., 1995c).

The children went to many different high schools after �fth grade, whichwas normal in China. The follow-up data were collected four years later intwo high schools which a high proportion of children in the original sampleattended. Because we were interested in how children from the originalsample functioned in the new environment, all children in 11 classes in thesixth and eighth grades were included in the follow-up study. Conse-quently, the complete sample in the follow-up study consisted of 520participants (287 boys and 233 girls). Among them, 162 children (84 boysand 78 girls) were from the original sample. Of these children, 88 parentsprovided complete data concerning child behavioural problems. Non-signi�cant differences were found between those children who participatedin the follow-up study and those who did not on the variables assessingsocial behaviours in the initial study.

The children were mainly from two kinds of families: (1) 73% of thechildren were from families in which the parents were workers or peasants;most of them had an educational level of high school or below high school;and (2) 27% of the children were from scholastic families in which one orboth of the parents were teachers, doctors or of�cials; their educationallevels ranged mainly from college to university graduate. Eighty-four percent of the children were only children in the family and 16% of thechildren had one or more than one sibling. The sample was representativeof school age children in urban China.1

MeasuresPeer Assessments of Social Behaviour. Peer assessments of social

behaviour were conducted using a Chinese version of the Revised ClassPlay (Chen et al., 1992; original by Masten, Morison, & Pelligrini, 1985).The Revised Class Play is a measure commonly used in Western and othercultures (e.g. Chen et al., 1992; Krispin et al., 1992; Rubin et al., 1995;Morison & Masten, 1991). Consistent with the procedures outlined byMasten et al. (1985), during administration, each child was �rst provided abooklet in which each of 30 behavioural descriptors (e.g. ‘‘Someone who isa good leader’’) and the names of all classmates were printed on each page.After the administrator read one behavioural descriptor, children were

1 The effects of family social/educational status and sibling status were examined, through aseries of regression analyses, on predictive relations between social functioning and outcomes.Nonsigni�cant differences in the relations were found.


requested to nominate up to three classmates who could best play the roleif they were to direct a Class Play. When all children in the class completedtheir nominations, they turned to the next item, until nominations for all 30items were obtained. Subsequently, nominations received from allclassmates were used to compute item scores for each child. The itemscores were standardised within the class to adjust for differences in thenumber of nominators.

The 30 items in the Revised Class Play describe common socialbehaviours in children (e.g. ‘‘Someone who gets into a lot of �ghts’’).Based on consultation with teachers and psychologists in China, the itemswere considered culturally appropriate. No evidence was found thatChinese children had dif�culties understanding the items or the procedure.In fact, as noted in the West, Chinese children found the task interesting.

There are three factors in Masten et al.’s (1985) original measure:Sociability-Leadership, Aggression-Disruption, and Sensitivity-Isolation.Factor analysis of the data from the original Chinese sample revealed that,consistent with the results for Western samples and those in Masten et al.’soriginal study, Sociability-Leadership items loaded on the �rst factor andAggression-Disruption items loaded on the second factor.

Factor analysis revealed that Sensitivityitems, including ‘‘Someone whois very shy’’, ‘‘Someone whose feelings get hurt easily’’, and ‘‘Someonewho is usually sad’’, loaded on the third factor in the Chinese sample. Itwas found that Isolation items (e.g. ‘‘Someone who is often left out’’;‘‘Someone who has trouble making friends’’), which clustered with theSensitivity items in Masten et al.’s study (1985), clearly loaded onAggression-Disruption factor in the Chinese sample (see Chen et al., 1992,for further details). In addition, the item ‘‘Someone who would rather playalone than with others’’, which loaded on Sensitivity factor in Masten etal.’s study (1985), did not load on either factor. In this study, the ‘‘playingalone’’ item and the Isolation items were not included in the calculation of�nal factor scores. Thus, three variables were computed by summing thescores of the corresponding items: Sociability-Leadership, Aggression-Disruption, and Shyness-Sensitivity. Sociability-Leadership and Shyness-Sensitivity were signi�cantly and positively correlated (r = .41, P , .001) ;both of them were nonsigni�cantly correlated with Aggression-Disruption.

Internal consistencies of the Sociability-Leadership, Aggression-Disrup-tion, and Shyness-Sensitivity scores were .97, .92, and .80, respectively.Test-retest reliabilities of these three scales, based on a subsample(N = 132) with an interval of two weeks, were .85, .97, and .84,respectively. Similar psychometric data concerning the measure has beenobtained in a different Chinese sample (Chen, Dong, & Zhou, 1997).

It should be noted that factor analysis revealed similar structure of theRevised Class Play in Western and Chinese children (see Chen et al., 1992,

208 CHEN ET AL.

for further information). The constructs re�ected by the correspondingitems in the Chinese sample were considered equivalent to those describedin Western cultures (e.g. Rubin et al., 1993).

Sociometric Nominations. Children were asked to nominate threeclassmates with whom he/she most liked to be and three classmates withwhom he/she least liked to be (positive and negative playmate nomina-tions). In addition, children were asked to nominate the three classmateswho were their best friends. The nominations received from all classmateswere totalled and then standardised within each class to permitappropriate comparisons. Positive playmate and positive friend nomina-tions were signi�cantly correlated (r = .63, P , .001) ; consequently theywere summed to provide a single index of peer acceptance. The negativeplaymate nominations received from peers provided an index of peerrejection. Following Coie, Dodge, and Coppotelli’s procedure (1982), anindex of sociometric preference, which indicates how well a child is likedby peers, was formed by subtracting negative nomination scores from thepositive nomination scores.

Teacher Ratings. In Chinese schools, one teacher is usually in charge ofa class. This head instructor often teaches one major course, such asChinese language or mathematics; he/she also takes care of the variouspolitical, social, administrative, and daily affairs and activities of the class.The head teacher usually instructs the same group of children over severalyears; thus, he/she is very familiar with the students. Following proceduresoutlined by Hightower et al. (1986), the head teacher was asked to rateeach child in his/her class on a 20-item Teacher-Child Rating Scaleconcerning school-related social competency (Part II of the T-CRS,Hightower et al., 1986). Teachers were asked to rate, on a 5-point scale,how well each of these items described each child (e.g. ‘‘Participates inclass discussion’’; ‘‘Copes well with failure’’).

The items in the original measure involved four highly overlappingareas: (1) frustration tolerance; (2) assertive social skills; (3) taskorientation; and (4) peer social skills (Hightower et al., 1986). However,factor analysis of the data in the Chinese sample revealed that the 20 itemscomprised a single competence factor. Thus, for purposes of the presentstudy, we used only a global total score, which we referred to as schoolsocial competence. The scores of this variable can range from 20 to 100,with higher scores indicating greater competence. Internal consistency ofthe scale was .93 in the Chinese sample.

Parental Assessments. A Chinese version of the Child BehaviorChecklist (CBCL, Achenbach, 1991) was used to assess children’s


externalising and internalising problems. The measure consisted of 113items that described a variety of behavioural problems. Parents wererequested to rate, on the 3-point scale (0 = ‘‘not true’’; 1= ‘‘somewhat orsometimes true’’; and 2= ‘‘very true or often true’’), each item accordingto how well they described their children. Following Achenbach’sprocedure (1991), parental responses were summed to compute subscalescores and broad-band externalising and internalising scores for each child.The measure of Externalising problems included Aggression andDelinquency subscales. Internalising problems included Withdrawal,Anxiety/Depression, and Somatic Complaints. Internal consistency ofExternalising and Internalising problems was .86 and .86, respectively formothers and .83 and .86, respectively for fathers. Mother and fatherassessments were signi�cantly correlated (r = .64 and .53, Ps , .001) forExternalising and Internalising problems, respectively. Consequently,scores of mother and father assessments were summed to form a singleindex of Externalising and Internalising behaviour problems. Theaggregated scores can range from 0 to 132 for Externalising problemsand 0 to 124 for Internalising problems, with higher scores indicating ahigher level of behavioural problem.

Self-perceptions. Children’s self-perceptions of competence in multipledomains were assessed by a Chinese version of the Self-Perception Pro�lefor Children (Harter, 1985). The scale taps children’s perceptions of theirown competence in �ve different domains: social, cognitive, physical,behavioural conduct, and general self-worth. Only social, behavioural, andgeneral self-worth domains, each consisting of six items, were of interest inthe present study. Children were asked to rate their self-perceptions ofcompetence on the 4-point scale. The items within each domain weresummed to form the scores of the subscale (possible range = 0–24), withhigher scores indicating more positive self-perceptions of competence.Internal consistencies of the Social, Behavioural, and General Self-worthsubscales were .73, .60, and .65, respectively.

Leadership. In Chinese schools, there are various formal and informalstudent organisations that are often hierarchical in nature. ‘‘Leaders’’ ofthese organisations, elected by peers and teachers, are usually believed tobe good students, especially in behaviour and morality. Data on studentleadership were collected from school administrative records in the presentstudy. Leadership was coded as follows: Students who were group leaderswithin the class received a score of 1; students who held leadershippositions at the class level and at the school and/or municipal levelreceived scores of 2 and 3, respectively. Students who did not holdleadership positions were given a score of 0.

210 CHEN ET AL.

Honourship. In Chinese schools, there is usually an evaluation of eachstudent by the end of each academic year. Students who are judged byclassmates and teachers to be ‘‘good’’ morally as well as intellectually andphysically competent, may be nominated for the school or municipal awardof ‘‘distinguished student in three areas’’ (san hao xue sheng, in Mandarin).There are different levels of ‘‘distinguished student’’, from the class level,to the school level, to the district level, and �nally to the municipal level.Once approved by the school, the District Educational Bureau, or theMunicipal Educational Bureau, the students who obtain the status of‘‘distinguished student’’ are given awards in collective meetings. Honour-ship, as determined by awards for ‘‘distinguished studentship’’, was codedas follows: students who did not receive any honourship awards in the pastyear received a score of 0; students who received honourship at the classlevel over the past year received a score of 1; and students who receivedhonourship beyond the class level received a score of 2.

Academic Achievement. Information concerning academic achieve-ment in Chinese and mathematics was obtained for all participants fromthe school administrative records. In the present study, scores on Chineseand mathematics were signi�cantly correlated (r = .55, P , .001) and thussummed to form a single index of academic achievement (possible range= 0–200).

Procedure

The �rst data set was collected in March 1990 (Time 1). The children weregroup administered the Chinese version of the Revised Class Play (Chen etal., 1992). Follow-up data collection was conducted in March 1994 (Time2). The children were administered a sociometric nomination measure andrequested to complete measures of self-perceptions of competence(Harter, 1985). Teachers were requested to complete the T-CRS for eachparticipant concerning his/her school-related competence (Hightower etal., 1986). Parents of the children were requested to complete the CBCL(Achenbach, 1991). Data concerning children’s leadership, honourship,and academic achievement were obtained from the school records.

We used some Western based measures such as the Revised Class Playand the T-CRS so that the results could be compared with the Westernliterature. These measures were examined and translated carefully by themembers of our research team in Canada and China; most of them were�uent in both Chinese and English. The measures were then back-translated to ensure comparability with the English versions. Thesemeasures have been used and proved valid in Chinese as well as in someother cultures (e.g. Chen et al., 1997; Chen & Rubin, 1994; Krispin et al.,


1992; Weisz et al., 1993). The administration of all measures was carriedout by a group of psychology teachers and graduate students at ShanghaiTeachers’ University.

Schools in China act in loco parentis, and thus written parentalpermission was not obtained for the children. Nevertheless, the parentswere aware that their children participated in the project, and indeed,participated in the study themselves. Both parents and children wereallowed to refuse to participate in, or withdraw from, the study. No evidentpressure was observed for their refusal or withdrawal. Approximately 5%of the children did not participate in each of the original and follow-upstudy. Children were clearly informed of con�dentiality of their responses.Finally, the participants were unaware of speci�c research purposes andhypotheses.

RESULTSPearson’s correlations among the adolescent variables for boys and girlsare presented in Table 1. In general, the results indicated that sociometricpreference, teacher assessment of school competence, leadership, honour-ship, academic achievement and self-perceived social, and behaviouralcompetence and general self-worth were positively correlated. Thesevariables were negatively correlated with parental reports of externalisingand internalising problems. The magnitudes of the correlations were fromlow to moderate, suggesting that these measures tapped different,overlapping aspects of adolescent adjustment. The patterns of thecorrelations were consistent across sex.

Correlations between childhood functioning and adolescent variablesare presented in Table 2. The results indicated that sociability-leadershipand shyness-sensitivity were positively correlated with social and academiccompetence and general self-esteem. In contrast, aggression-disruptionwas correlated negatively with indexes of adjustment and positively withexternalising problems. A series of hierarchical multiple regressionanalyses was conducted for each of the outcome variables. Because therewere nonsigni�cant main effects for grade or interactions between gradeand other variables, data across grades were combined for all subsequentanalyses. In these analyses, child sex was entered into the equations �rst tocontrol for sex differences in outcome measures; each of the childhoodvariables (Sociability, Aggression, and Shyness) was entered second.Interaction between sex and each of the childhood variables was enterednext. The results concerning the effects of child sex, the childhood socialbehaviours, and their interactions on each of the adolescent variables arepresented in Table 3.

TAB

LE1

Inte

rcor

rela

tions

amon

gA

dole

scen

tV

aria

bles

12

34

56

78

910

1.So

ciom

etri

cpr

efer

ence

.29*

*.3

1**

.23*

*±

.30*

*.0

2.3

6**

.31*

*.2

9**

.30*

*2.

TR

com

pete

nce

.16*

*.5

2**

.32*

*±

.16*

±.1

1.4

7**

.20*

*.2

4**

.38*

*3.

Lea

ders

hip

.21*

*.4

3**

.57*

*±

.14*

.02

.44*

*.1

6*.2

3**

.27*

*4.

Hon

ours

hip

.06

.43*

*.5

5**

±.1

3.0

0.2

6**

.09

.12*

.21*

*5.

Ext

erna

lisin

gpr

oble

ms

±.0

8±

.05

±.1

4*±

.15*

.61*

*±

.25*

*±

.03

±.2

8**

±.3

2**

6.In

tern

alis

ing

prob

lem

s±

.02

±.1

8*±

.18*

±.1

7*.6

3**

±.0

8±

.08

±.0

3±

.29*

*7.

Aca

dem

icac

hiev

emen

t.2

6**

.52*

*.5

4**

.39*

*±

.31*

*±

.24*

*.0

8.2

3**

.37*

*8.

SP-S

ocia

l.2

1**

.10

.18*

*.0

9.1

1±

.04

±.0

4.0

8.4

7**

9.SP

-Beh

avio

ural

.08

.28*

*.1

4*.0

3±

.16*

±.1

5*.1

5*±

.06

.38*

*10

.SP

-Gen

eral

.17*

*.3

5**

.26*

*.1

5*±

.38*

*±

.40*

*.3

6**

.36*

*.2

8**

Not

e:C

orre

latio

nsfo

rboy

sand

girl

sar

eab

ove

and

belo

wth

edi

agon

al,r

espe

ctiv

ely.

TR

,Tea

cher

Rat

ing;

SP,S

elf-

perc

epti

ons.

Sam

ple

size

forb

oys

and

girl

sw

as15

0an

d15

0fo

rE

xter

nalis

ing

and

Inte

rnal

isin

gpr

oble

ms,

and

287

and

233

for

othe

rva

riab

les.

*P,

. 05;

**P

,. 0

1.

212


The results �rst indicated that there were signi�cant sex differences inteacher assessments of social competence, leadership, honourship,externalising problems, academic achievement, and self-perceived beha-vioural competence. Girls had signi�cantly lower scores than boys onexternalising problems and signi�cantly higher scores on the othervariables. Concerning the main effects of childhood social behaviours, itwas found that sociability-leadership signi�cantly and positively predictedteacher-assessed competence, leadership, honourship, academic achieve-ment, and self-perceptions of general self-worth. It was also found thatshyness-sensitivity signi�cantly and positively predicted teacher-assessedcompetence, leadership, and honourship. Aggression-disruption signi�-cantly and positively predicted parental assessments of externalisingbehavioural problems and signi�cantly and negatively predicted peerpreference and self-perceptions of behavioural competence. Finally, theresults indicated that there were signi�cant interactions between sex andchildhood aggression in the predictions of teacher-assessed competence,leadership, and self-perceptions of social competence. Further analysesrevealed that aggression was signi�cantly and positively correlated withteacher-rated competence, leadership, and self-perceptions of socialcompetence for girls, r = .35, .29, and .29, Ps , .001, respectively. Thesecorrelations were nonsigni�cant for boys. The correlations betweenaggression, on the one hand, and teacher-rated competence, leadershipand perceived social competence, on the other, were signi�cantly different

TABLE 2Correlations between Childhood Social Functioning and Adolescent Adjustment

Variables

Childhood Variables

Adolescent VariablesSociability-leadership Aggression

Shyness-sensitivity

Sociometric preference ± .06 ± .31*** ± .06Teacher-assessed competence ± .37*** ± .10 ± .31***Leadership ± .37*** ± .12 ± .25***Honourship ± .45*** ± .09 ± .31***Externalising problems ± .12 ± .34*** ± .16Internalising problems ± .12 ± .11 ± .02Academic achievement ± .26*** ± .16* ± .20**Self-perception—Social ± .14 ± .00 ± .04Self-perception—Behavioural ± .11 ± .32*** ± .15*Self-perception—General ± .21** ± .03 ± .03

Note: Sample size was 88 for Externalising and Internalising problems and 162 for othervariables. *P , .05; **P , .01; ***P , .001.

214 CHEN ET AL.

TAB

LE3

Reg

ress

ion

Ana

lysi

spr

edic

ting

Ado

lesc

ent

Adj

ustm

ent

Var

iabl

es

Chi

ldho

odP

redi

ctor

Var

iabl

es

Soci

abili

ty-l

eade

rshi

pA

ggre

ssio

n-di

srup

tion

Shyn

ess-

sens

itivi

tyA

dole

scen

tO

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me

Var

iabl

esV

aria

ble

ente

red:

bD

R2

Fch

bD

R2

Fch

bD

R2

Fch

Soci

omet

ric

pref

eren

ce1.

Sex

±.1

2.0

11.

672.

Chi

ldho

odva

riab

le±

.02

.00

.67

±.3

1.0

819

.12*

**±

.01

.00

.47

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

11.

20±

–.0

1.4

8±

–.0

1.7

3

Tea

cher

-ass

esse

dco

mpe

tenc

e1.

Sex

±.2

5.0

69.

85**

2.C

hild

hood

vari

able

±.3

5.1

221

.54*

**±

.01

.00

.01

±.2

2.0

57.

84**

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

0.9

3±

–.0

711

.74*

**±

–.0

0.4

0

Lea

ders

hip

1.Se

x±

.33

.11

16.4

0***

2.C

hild

hood

vari

able

±.3

3.1

118

.70*

**±

.01

.00

.02

±.1

9.0

45.

51*

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

0.9

3±

–.0

69.

38**

±–

.02

3.59

Hon

ours

hip

1.Se

x±

.21

.05

6.46

**2.

Chi

ldho

odva

riab

le±

.46

.18

30.8

1***

±.0

1.0

0.0

2±

.29

.08

12.6

2***

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

1.1

1±

–.0

11.

70±

–.0

11.

50

Ext

erna

lisin

gpr

oble

ms

1.Se

x±

.37

.14

13.2

1***

2.C

hild

hood

vari

able

±.1

0.0

1.9

0±

.23

.05

4.25

**±

.11

.01

1.22

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

0.1

5±

–.0

11.

32±

–.0

0.1

4

214


Inte

rnal

isin

gpr

oble

ms

1.Se

x±

.07

.00

.39

2.C

hild

hood

vari

able

±.1

2.0

11.

15±

.14

.02

1.36

±.0

7.0

1.4

23.

Sex

child

hood

vari

able

±–

.01

.84

±–

.01

1.55

±–

.00

.07

Aca

dem

icac

hiev

emen

t1.

Sex

±.2

5.0

610

.56*

**2.

Chi

ldho

odva

riab

le±

.23

.05

9.01

**±

.07

.01

.81

±.1

3.0

22.

873.

Sex

child

hood

vari

able

±–

.00

.56

±–

.01

1.61

±–

.00

.42

Self

-per

cept

ion-

soci

al1.

Sex

±.0

4.0

0.1

62.

Chi

ldho

odva

riab

le±

.15

.03

2.56

±.0

3.0

0.1

1±

.03

.00

.08

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

11.

22±

–.0

55.

68**

±–

.02

1.89

Self

-per

cept

ion-

beha

viou

ral

1.Se

x±

.35

.12

14.8

6***

2.C

hild

hood

vari

able

±.0

2.0

0.0

7±

.23

.05

6.02

**±

.01

.00

.01

3.Se

xch

ildho

odva

riab

le±

–.0

01.

22±

–.0

11.

68±

–.0

0.0

2

Self

-per

cept

ion-

gene

rals

elf-

wor

th1.

Sex

±.1

0.0

1.9

72.

Chi

ldho

odva

riab

le±

.19

.04

3.89

*±

.01

.00

.01

±.0

0.0

0.0

03.

Sex

child

hood

vari

able

±–

.00

.12

±–

.02

1.93

±–

±.0

0.0

1

Not

e:Se

xw

asen

tere

din

toth

eeq

uatio

nin

alla

naly

ses

for

Soci

abili

ty,A

ggre

ssio

n,an

dSh

ynes

s.b

,DR

2 ,an

dF

chfo

rse

x(s

tep

1)in

regr

essi

onof

each

adol

esce

ntva

riab

leon

Agg

ress

ion

and

Shyn

ess

wer

eth

esa

me

asth

ose

onSo

ciab

ility

.Sam

ple

size

was

88fo

rE

xter

nalis

ing

and

Inte

rnal

isin

gpr

oble

ms

and

162

for

othe

rva

riab

les.

*P,

. 05;

**P

,. 0

1;**

*P,

. 001

.

215

216 CHEN ET AL.

in magnitude for girls and boys, Z = 2.97, 2.50 and 2.50, P , .01, .05, and.05, respectively.

DISCUSSION

It has been argued that how a child behaves in social situations may havelong-term effects on social, emotional, and cognitive development(Havighurst, 1953; Kohlberg et al., 1984). Consistent with this argument,researchers have found that children who are prosocial and friendly in peerinteractions are likely to become well adjusted (e.g. Ledingham &Schwartzman, 1984; Morison & Masten, 1991). In contrast, children who‘‘move against’’ and ‘‘move away from’’ the world, that is, those who aredisruptive-aggressive and those who are shy, anxious, and withdrawn, aremore likely than their peers to have social and psychological problems inlatter years (Caspi et al., 1987, 1988; Coie et al., 1995; Rubin et al., 1993,1995). Although these results are important for our understanding ofhuman social development as well as for the development of effectiveprevention and intervention programmes, it should be noted that most, ifnot all, of the studies have been conducted in Western cultures,particularly North American countries. Research in other cultures willhelp us understand how cultural context may be involved in the process ofsocial development. The results of the present study concerning theadolescent outcomes of social functioning in Chinese children constitute aunique contribution to the �eld in this regard.

It was found that, consistent with the Western literature, sociability-leadership in childhood positively predicted adolescent social and schooladjustment in our Chinese sample. Moreover, it was found that sociability-leadership positively predicted self-perceptions of general self-worth.Thus, socially competent children were more likely than others to becomesocially and academically competent and to have positive self-regard. Thesimilarity of the predictive relations between social competence andadolescent indexes of positive adjustment veri�ed the assumption that, inboth Western and Eastern cultures, sociable and prosocial behaviour ispositively valued and encouraged (Mussen, & Eisenberg-Berg, 1977;Whiting, 1980; Whiting & Edwards, 1988).

In Western cultures, shy, restrained, and inhibited behaviour has beenconsidered a behavioural re�ection of social wariness, anxiety, and self-doubt (e.g. Rubin & Asendorpf, 1993). Shy, anxious children are likely tohave social, emotional, and adjustment problems including school failureand negative self-perceptions in late childhood and adolescence (e.g.Asendorpf, 1991; Boivin et al., 1995; Rubin et al, 1993, 1995; Younger &Boyko, 1987). It has also been reported that shy and inhibited children,


particularly boys, may have life course adjustment dif�culties particularlyin so far as marriage and socioeconomic prosperity is concerned (Caspi etal., 1988).

As we argued earlier, the maladaptive nature of shy-inhibited behaviourin Western cultures may be related to the cultural endorsement of assertiveand competitive behaviours in individualistic and capitalistic societies.Given the culture-speci�c norms and values in China (Chen & Kaspar, inpress), shy-inhibited behaviour, as an indication of social maturity andcompetence, may be accepted and even encouraged in Chinese children. Ithas been argued that shy-inhibited children are likely to experiencedif�culties in stressful novel situations in Western cultures (Rubin &Asendorpf, 1993). However, the socioecological conditions for children’ssocial interactions are highly stable in China due to the low mobility ofpopulation in the society. This environment may be suitable for shy-inhibited children to establish and maintain their intimate social relation-ships and to display competent behaviours. Given this background, weexpected that Chinese shy-inhibited children might be well adjusted inchildhood and adolescence.

Consistent with our hypotheses, shy-inhibited Chinese children werefound to be accepted among peers and well adjusted to the schoolenvironment in early and middle childhood in previous studies (Chen etal., 1992; Chen et al., 1995a, Chen, Rubin, & Li, 1995b). Some havespeculated that, regardless of the culture, shy, reticent, and sensitivebehaviour in late childhood and adolescence may be associated withdif�culties in peer relationships because intimate disclosure and commu-nication may be important for peer interactions during this period (Chen etal., 1995c; M. Chen, Cheng, Zhou, & Li, 1990). Nevertheless, we expectedthat shy elementary school-age children might adjust their behaviours inaccord with social expectations and develop effective strategies to copewith stress in peer interactions and thus continue to function well in thesocial environment. Our hypothesis was supported, in part, by the �ndingthat shyness was nonsigni�cantly associated with peer preference,suggesting that shy-sensitive children were not disliked by peers inadolescence. Moreover, shy children continued to be viewed as competentby teachers and to receive honourship and leadership positions in theschool. Thus, the results indicated that, in Chinese culture, shy-inhibitedbehaviour was not only associated with concurrent social and schooladjustment in childhood, but also predictive of later positive outcomes. Itmay be concluded that shyness-social inhibition is adaptive in Chinesechildren from a developmental perspective.

Shyness-inhibition has been considered a behavioural characteristicwhich may have, as its origins, temperamental or even neurobiologicalfactors (Fox et al., 1995; Kagan, 1989). Nevertheless, the results from this

218 CHEN ET AL.

longitudinal project revealed the critical role of cultural beliefs and valuesin de�ning the adaptational ‘‘meanings’’ of shyness-inhibition. Theinteraction between the culture and individual dispositional patterns mayconstitute an important mechanism for the development of socialfunctioning and adjustment. It would be inaccurate and incomplete tointerpret the developmental signi�cance and outcomes of sociobehaviouralfunctioning without taking cultural factors into account.

Based on the voluminous literature concerning the maladaptive natureof aggression in both Western and Chinese cultures (e.g. Coie et al., 1995;Loeber, 1982; Masten et al., 1995; Mussen & Eisenberg-Berg, 1977), wehypothesised that childhood aggression would predict adolescent adjust-ment problems. Interestingly, signi�cant sex differences were found.Speci�cally, aggression was positively predictive of teacher-rated and self-perceived social competence and leadership for girls, but not for boys.Aggressive girls tended to become more competent than their non-aggressive counterparts in adolescence. For a better understanding of sexdifferences in outcomes of aggression, we re-examined the predictiverelations between aggression and externalising problems, sociometricpreference, and self-perceptions of behavioural competence separately forboys and girls. It was �rst found that aggression was signi�cantly andpositively predictive of externalising problems for boys (r = .33, n= 39,P , .05), but not for girls (r = ± .11, n= 49, P . .05). In other words,aggression was more stable in Chinese boys than in girls. It was also foundthat aggression was signi�cantly and negatively predictive of peerpreference and self-perceptions of behavioural competence for boys(rs = ± .41 and ± .30, ns = 84 and 84, Ps , .001 and .01, respectively) butnot for girls (rs = ± .18 and .07, ns = 76 and 76, Ps . .05, respectively).Thus, although aggressive male children maintained their externalisingbehavioural problems and low social status, aggressive female children nolonger had behavioural and social problems in adolescence.

The results concerning maladaptive outcomes of aggression in boys wereconsistent with our hypothesis and the literature (e.g. Coie et al., 1995).However, the �ndings on the lack of continuity and adaptive outcomes ofaggressive behaviour in Chinese girls were somewhat surprising. Severalexplanations may be offered. First, it has been reported in the Westernliterature that, although both aggressive boys and girls are likely todevelop social and psychological problems, the �ndings for aggressive girlsare generally less clear-cut than for aggressive boys (e.g. Coie et al., 1995;Eron & Huesmann, 1990). It has been suggested that different results forboys and girls in the West may result from researchers’ reliance onstudying physical aspects of aggression which are more likely to bedisplayed by boys than by girls (Bigbee & Crotpeter, 1995; Crick &Crotpeter, 1995). Overt aggression is related to, but distinct from,


relational aggression which is often displayed by girls. The aggressionitems on the Revised Class Play used in this study mainly tapped overtaggression (e.g. ‘‘Someone who gets into a lot of �ghts’’; ‘‘Someone whopicks on other kids’’) and thus, like in the Western studies (e.g. Eron &Huesmann, 1990; also see Dishion, French, & Patterson, 1995), might notprovide meaningful information on behavioural patterns of aggressivegirls.

Alternatively, according to the contextual perspective on the continuityof behavioural systems (e.g. Caspi & Mof�tt, 1995), the adjustmentoutcomes for aggressive girls might be related to the interactions amongsocial and cultural pressure on aggressive behaviour, gender stereotypicalideology, and developmental changes in Chinese culture. Speci�cally,aggressive behaviour is often discouraged and prohibited in most cultures.This may be particularly the case in Chinese collectivistic culture as it maythreaten the welfare and bene�ts of the collective (Mussen & Eisenberg-Berg, 1977). However, compared with boys, girls may receive greaterpressure because they are traditionally expected to behave in a compliantand passive manner. Consequently, aggressive girls may be more likelythan boys to change their externalising behaviours during the course ofdevelopment. This argument is consistent with the �ndings that relationbetween childhood aggression and adolescent CBCL externalisingproblems including aggressive behaviour was signi�cant and positive forboys, but nonsigni�cant for girls. Because changes in social performanceare often disproportionally weighted in the evaluation of a child in Chineseschools (e.g. Chen et al., 1995b), it is not surprising that girls who wereaggressive in childhood but no longer displayed externalising problems inadolescence were likely to be rated positively by teachers and awardedwith leadership positions. Of course, there were other possibilities (e.g. theresults might be due to the effect of chance); conclusions must be drawnwith great caution before the results of the present study concerning theadjustment outcomes in aggressive girls are replicated in future studies.

In summary, the results of the present study indicate that thedevelopment of social functioning is a highly complex phenomenon.Contextual factors, including gender and culture, may be important in theorganisation and moderation of developmental processes and pathways.The study demonstrated the necessity of examining social functioning indifferent cultures.

Manuscript received March 1997Revised manuscript received February 1998

220 CHEN ET AL.

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Adolescent Outcomes of Social Functioning in Chinese Children

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