The purpose for the present study was to determine the stability across time and social setting of the social withdrawal of early adolescents. Nominations by school peers for social withdrawal were stable across a 3-year period. Daily activity logs completed by parents indicated considerable stability for participation in large-group activities with peers in the community, but not for activities involving smaller groups of peers. Participants nominated as socially withdrawn by their schoolmates were involved less extensively in activities with peers in home and community environments than were other participants. Participants from families of higher socioeconomic status (SES) participated more frequently in home and community social activities with peers than did participants from lower SES homes, especially in large-group activities. These results indicated that social withdrawal during early adolescence is consistent across settings and stable over time, especially for the subgroup of early adolescents who are the most withdrawn socially.
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