Heidi Gazelle

Dr. Heidi Gazelle’s areas of interest include social and emotional development in middle childhood and early adolescence. Her program of research focuses on risk and resilience in anxious solitary children – children who are shy and often play alone despite the availability of playmates.Her previous work has demonstrated that some anxious solitary children demonstrate trajectories characterized by persistent peer difficulties (peer rejection, exclusion, victimization) and internalizing problems (e.g., depressive symptoms), whereas others appear to become better-adjusted over time. In her current work, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), she is investigating individual and contextual characteristics in middle childhood and early adolescence that differentiate between children who develop these divergent developmental trajectories. Interactions between children’s individual strengths and vulnerabilities and environmental risks and supports is a central theme in this work.

There are 9 included publications by Heidi Gazelle :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Anxious solitude across contexts: Girls’ interactions with familiar and unfamiliar peers 2005 2678 Cross-situational continuity and change in anxious solitary girls' behavior and peer relations were examined in interactions with familiar versus unfamiliar playmates. Fourth-grade girls (N=209, M age=9.77 years, half African American, half European ...
Anxious solitude and peer exclusion predict social helplessness, upset affect, and vagal regulation in response to behavioral rejection by a friend 2009 4238 Competent social interaction requires adaptive responding to occasional social challenges—for instance, having a social invitation declined by a social partner. This investigation examined the propensity for anxious solitary children to respond adapt...
Anxious solitude, unsociability, and peer exclusion in middle childhood: A multi-trait multi-method matrix 2009 3598 This study examines convergent and divergent validity for middle childhood anxious solitude, unsociability, and peer exclusion as assessed by five informants (peers, teachers, observers, the self, and parents). Participants were 163 (67 male, 96 fema...
Behavioral profiles of anxious solitary children and heterogeneity in peer relations 2008 3420 Anxious solitary (AS) children—children who desire peer interaction but often play alone among familiar peers because of shyness and social anxiety—may differ from one another substantially in the quality of their relations with peers. Although these...
Class climate moderates peer relations and emotional adjustment in children with an early childhood history of anxious solitude: A child × environment model. 2006 3273 Research since the 1980s has indicated that anxious solitary (AS) children—children who are shy, socially anxious, and often play alone when among familiar playmates—are at risk for interpersonal and internalizing problems as a group (Gazelle et al.,...
Early childhood anxious solitude and subsequent peer relationships: Maternal and cognitive moderators 2007 2311 It was hypothesized that the relation between early anxious solitude and subsequent peer relations would be moderated by early relational (maternal sensitivity) and individual factors (child school readiness). Participants were 1364 children from the...
Loneliness, Peer Relations, and Language Disorder in Childhood 1999 10370 Children with Language disorders boom higher than average rates of peer relationship problems, suggesting that they are also AC risk far loneliness, A review or research on loneliness as an emotional consequence of peer relationship difficulties in c...
Moving toward and away from the world: Social approach and avoidance trajectories in anxious solitary youth 2004 5070 This investigation tested the person-by-environment hypothesis that the joint influence of behavioral vulnerability (anxious solitude) and interpersonal adversity (peer exclusion) predicts heightened social avoidance and depression over time. The stu...
Social Withdrawal In Childhood and Adolescence Peer Relationships and Social Competence 2010 13364 During the past three decades, the study of children's peer relationships and social skills has taken a prominent position in the fields of developmental and clinical psychology. This reflects, in part, a growing conviction that children who are soci...