Social inhibition and overfriendliness as related to socioemotional functioning in 7-and 8-year-old children

Examined high, medium, and low social inhibition groups in a Swedish sample (N = 815) of 7- and 8-year-old children on the basis of parental reports a bout their children's reaction to novel social situations. High social inhi bition was associated with increased levels of internalizing problems and l ow social competence. Among the low-inhibited children, we identified a sub group by using an index of overfriendliness. Overfriendliness was associate d with more internalizing, externalizing, and attention problems and lower prosocial orientation. The findings support the notion of high social inhib ition as a risk factor for the development of internalizing problems and lo w social competence but question the view of low inhibition as descriptive of generally well-functioning children. Rather, this is true for low-inhibi ted children only when they are also low in overfriendliness. Thus, the res ults point to a need for a better understanding of developmental pathways f or both high- and low-inhibited children.