Looking Beyond Social Motivations: Considering Novel Perspectives on Social Withdrawal in Childhood and Adolescence

Social withdrawal refers to the process whereby a child removes him/herself from opportunities for peer interaction. For the last 30 years, social withdrawal research has been predominantly influenced by Asendorpf’s (1990) conceptual model characterizing subtypes of social withdrawal based on combinations of social approach and social avoidance motivations (i.e., shyness, unsociability, or social avoidance). In this essay, we highlight some key limitations in this model and present a series of novel theoretical perspectives that offer opportunities to address these issues. These new perspectives are intended to compliment, supplement, and ultimately be integrated with the existing motivational model. Expanding this conceptual model in this regard can reveal novel insights regarding the development and implications of social withdrawal.