Specificity of peer difficulties to social anxiety in early adolescence: categorical and dimensional analyses with clinical and community samples.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We investigated the specificity of social difficulties to social anxiety by testing associations of social anxiety and other anxiety presentations with peer acceptance and victimization in community and treatment-seeking samples of adolescents aged 12-14 years. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, quantitative survey. METHODS: Adolescents from the community (n = 116) and a clinical setting (n = 154) completed ratings of anxiety symptoms, perceived social acceptance, and peer victimization. Their parents also completed ratings of the adolescents' anxiety and social acceptance. RESULTS: Social acceptance was lowest among adolescents with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and lower among adolescents with other anxiety disorders than in the community sample. Anxiety symptoms were negatively correlated with social acceptance, but these associations were not unique to social anxiety symptoms. Girls in the community sample reported more overt victimization than girls with SAD and with other anxiety diagnoses. Relational victimization was associated with social and nonsocial anxiety symptoms only in the community sample. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings supplement recent laboratory-based observational studies on social functioning among adolescents with SAD and other anxiety disorders. Although social anxiety may be associated with unique social skill deficits and impairment, concerns about peer relations should also be considered among adolescents with other anxiety symptoms.

Social Risk and Peer Victimization in Elementary School Children: The Protective Role of Teacher-Student Relationships.

Children not accepted or actively rejected by peers are at greater risk for peer victimization. We examined whether a positive teacher-student relationship can potentially buffer these children from the risk of peer victimization. Participants were 361 elementary school children in the 4th or 5th grade. Peer-report measures were used to assess teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ), social preference, and rejected sociometric status; peer victimization was assessed via self-, peer-, and teacher-reports. As expected, social preference assessed in the fall semester was a significant negative predictor of self- and peer-reported victimization measured in the spring, controlling for prior levels of peer victimization. TSRQ in the fall was not a significant unique predictor of self-, peer-, or teacher-reported victimization the following spring, controlling for fall victimization and social preference scores. We found a significant interaction between social preference and TSRQ in predicting self-, peer-, and teacher-reported peer victimization: Social preference significantly predicted peer victimization, but only for those children with relatively poor student-teacher relationships. Subgroup analysis revealed that children actively rejected by peers in the fall reported significantly less peer victimization in the spring (controlling for fall victimization scores) when their fall TSRQ scores were at or above the sample mean compared to rejected children whose TSRQ scores were low (i.e., < -0.5 SD below the mean). Findings offer preliminary support for the notion that teacher-student relationship quality can buffer children at social risk for continued peer victimization.

Associations between teasing, quality of life, and physical activity among preadolescent children.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed longitudinal associations between preadolescent's physical activity engagement (PA), health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and teasing during physical activity (TDPA). METHODS: 108 children completed measures of PA, HRQOL, and TDPA during fourth or fifth grade and 1 year later. Potential longitudinal associations between study variables were tested using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Weight status emerged as an important moderator of the structural relationships. TDPA predicted later HRQOL for children with overweight and obesity, whereas HRQOL predicted later PA in children with normal weight. Both groups demonstrated a significant association between TDPA and HRQOL cross-sectionally. CONCLUSIONS: Children with overweight or obesity who experience TDPA are more likely to report poorer subsequent HRQOL. Children with normal weight who experience TDPA are at increased risk for reduced PA 1 year later. Efforts to reduce TDPA may benefit children's HRQOL and increase PA participation.