The significance of best friends' motivations for social withdrawal: Associations with socio‐emotional adjustment in Chinese children and adolescents

This study applied the actor–partner interdependence model (APIM) to simultaneously consider whether, and how, motivations for social withdrawal among Chinese children and adolescents (actor effects) and their best friends (partner effects) uniquely contributed to indices of socio‐emotional adjustment. Participants were 101 same‐gender best friend dyads (46 boys, M age = 12.17 years, SD = 1.39) in mainland China. Among the results, actor effects were found such that youths' own shyness and unsociability were related uniquely to the socio‐emotional adjustment outcomes. In addition, partner effects were found such that best friend's shyness and unsociability were related uniquely to youths' social preferences and depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the important role of best friends' motivations for social withdrawal in explaining variability in Chinese youths' socio‐emotional adjustment and well‐being.