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.
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