How BIS/BAS and psycho-behavioral variables distinguish between social withdrawal subtypes during emerging adulthood

•Links between withdrawal subtypes and psycho-behavioral variables are examined.•Results challenge leading approach and avoidance models of withdrawal.•Evidence of previously unknown shared and non-shared correlates is revealed.•Findings show that unsociability is associated positively with creativity.

Informed by past theory and research on social withdrawal, the aims of this study were to investigate whether three subtypes of social withdrawal (shyness, avoidance, unsociability) are related with BIS and BAS, as hypothesized by leading theories. Also of interest was whether these three withdrawal subtypes are related uniquely to different theoretically-indicated outcomes during emerging adulthood, a developmental period that has received very little empirical attention in this area of research. Participants were 295 (Mage = 19.31 years) emerging adults who completed self-report measures assessing different motivations for social withdrawal, aggression, anxiety sensitivity, creativity, social anhedonia, and BIS/BAS. Structural equation modeling revealed findings that challenge theoretical models that assume that specific and varying combinations of BIS and BAS underlie different withdrawal subtypes. The models also revealed new evidence of specific and non-specific associations, including the first evidence of a potential benefit (creativity) associated with unsociability.