AUTHOR=Gazelle Heidi , Shafer Lundin Jessie K. , Lei Haochen , Cao Hongyuan , Litchfield Meghan 

TITLE=Child and adolescent social withdrawal predict adult psychosocial adjustment: A meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Developmental Psychology

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/developmental-psychology/articles/10.3389/fdpys.2024.1408166

DOI=10.3389/fdpys.2024.1408166

ISSN=2813-7779

ABSTRACT=<p>This systematic review and set of five meta-analyses synthesized the results of prospective longitudinal publications on childhood and/or adolescent social withdrawal as a predictor of adult psychosocial adjustment. Meta-analyses were conducted with results for five adult outcomes from 31 publications derived from 14 longitudinal samples and a combined sample size of 19,806 adults (50% women, <italic>M</italic> = 38.88 years, 83% White) with childhood and/or adolescent ( ≤ 16 years) histories of social withdrawal and their offspring (<italic>N</italic> = 175). Dependency among publications derived from the same longitudinal samples was explicitly modeled in meta-analyses with clustering. Meta-analytic results support childhood and/or adolescent social withdrawal as a <italic>medium-sized risk factor</italic> for adult social anxiety and intergenerational difficulties in mothers and their offspring (both <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001); a <italic>small-size risk factor</italic> for delayed adult developmental milestones (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), adult social withdrawal (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001), other anxiety (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), and depression (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01); and a <italic>small-size protective factor</italic> against adult substance use (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01). However, meta-analytic results did <italic>not</italic> support childhood and/or adolescent social withdrawal as a predictor of physical health, likely due to the heterogeneous nature of the investigated health outcomes. Consistent with a Developmental Science Model, results are interpreted as supporting interpersonal mechanisms (missing out, interpersonal stress, and poor relationship quality) and developmental cascades (cross domain-influences) in socially withdrawn children's life-course development. Because evidence for intergenerational difficulties was based on a single longitudinal sample, confidence in intergenerational effects would be increased by replication in other samples. Heterogeneity among effect sizes included in most meta-analyses suggests that the relation between childhood and/or adolescent social withdrawal and adult outcomes is likely to be moderated by other factors. Future directions in this area of research are discussed.</p>