Factors influencing the link between social anxiety and peer acceptance: Contributions of social skills and close friendships during middle childhood

Childhood social anxiety consistently has been linked with low levels of peer acceptance, yet little is known about the factors contributing to this association. We therefore examined the mediating and moderating role of social skills and close friendships, two conceptually and empirically relevant variables which were hypothesized to contribute to the social anxiety-peer acceptance relationship. Fifty teachers and 333 children (M = 9.54 years) participated in this study. Sociometric procedures and standardized questionnaires were used to assess: (a) self-reported social anxiety and friendship quality, (b) teacher-rated social skills, and (c) peer-derived acceptance and friendship quantity scores. As expected, childhood social anxiety was associated with low levels of peer acceptance, and this relation was mediated in part by social skills difficulties. Friendship quality (but not quantity) moderated this process for girls, suggesting that high negativity within girls' best friendships may exacerbate risk for undesirable peer outcomes. Interestingly, friendship quantity and positive friendship quality did not serve a protective function for boys or girls. Some implications, methodological limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.