Peer conflict avoidance: Associations with loneliness, social anxiety, andsocial avoidance

Failure to resolve peer conflict is associated with children's reports of l oneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance. Although these relationshi ps are well established, researchers have not examined the association betw een the avoidance of peer conflict and various adjustment characteristics. The current study examined the association between avoidance of conflict an d measures of loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance for 59 pupil s in Grade 4 (31 boys and 28 girls) and 47 in Grade 8 (22 boys and 25 girls ). Volunteers indicated that conflict avoidance based on autonomy, e.g., in dependence issues, and interpersonal issues, e.g., closeness and cohesion, was associated with scores on loneliness for boys and girls, respectively. Conflict avoidance for emotional and physical well-being and fear of punish ment was associated with increased reports of loneliness and social anxiety for children in Grade 4.