Social withdrawal has been recognized as an umbrella term referring to internal motivations to remove oneself from familiar and/or unfamiliar social situations. Previous research has discovered different subtypes of social withdrawal: shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance. An increasing number of empirical studies have investigated an association between social withdrawal and peer problems. However, the strength of these associations varied considerably between studies. The present work performed separate three‒level meta‒analyses for studies involving youth from China or North America. In total, 42 studies including 44,740 youth were obtained based on a comprehensive literature search. Analysis revealed significant positive associations between social withdrawal and peer problems in both Chinese and North American youth, suggesting that social withdrawal was a risk factor for developing peer problems. In addition, there was a significant moderating effect of gender on the association between social withdrawal and peer problems in Chinese youth. Finally, the moderating effects of mothers’ and fathers’ educational background were observed in North American youth. In sum, current evidence contributes to a better understanding of the association between social withdrawal and peer problems.
