Peer acceptance and self-perceptions of verbal and behavioural aggression and social withdrawal

This study presents a model of maladaptive social interactions that includes both behavioural and communication correlates of peer acceptance and self-perceived social competence. Tested in a sample of 377 Hong Kong secondary school students, verbal and nonverbal aggression contributed concurrently and longitudinally to peer acceptance. Communication avoidance was predictive only of self-perceived social competence but not of peer acceptance, whereas, as observed in Western children, social withdrawal negatively predicted peer acceptance and self-perceived social competency. These findings are presented in a discussion of the verbal and nonverbal involvement in defining aggression and social withdrawal in adolescent social interactions. © 2005 The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development.