Abstract: Social withdrawal refers to the process whereby children remove themselves from opportunities for peer interaction and frequently display solitary behaviors in social contexts. The distinction can be further made between shyness, characterized by the internal conflict between the desire to affiliate (i.e., social approach motivation) and social fear and wariness (i.e., social avoidance motivation), and social disinterest, which is thought to reflect a non-fearful preference for solitary activities. Whereas there has been considerable research on the development of shyness in childhood, social disinterest remains relatively understudied, particularly in older children. Empirical findings in Western societies indicated shyness and social disinterest appear to have quite different implications for children’s socio-emotional and school adjustment. While shyness has demonstrated a consistent link with difficulties in peer relationships and other social and school problems, social disinterest appears to be a comparatively benign form of social withdrawal. However, the significance of social functioning may be affected by cultural context. Evidences from the studies conducted in China indicated that social disinterest was associated with social, school and psychological problems. The purpose of this one-year longitudinal study was to examine the moderating effects of academic achievement on predictive relations between social disinterest and later peer relationships difficulties among early adolescents. Participants were 787 children (ages 10-14 years) in an urban area in P. R. China. Assessments of social disinterest, peer acceptance, peer victimization and academic achievement were obtained from peer nominations and school records. Results indicated that social disinterest negatively predicted later peer acceptance, and positively predicted later peer victimization, while academic achievement positively predicted later peer acceptance, and negatively predicted later peer victimization. The predictive relations between social disinterest and later peer relationships difficulties were moderated by academic achievement. For low-achieving children, the associations between social disinterest and later peer relationships difficulties were much stronger than that for high-achieving children. The results indicate that academic achievement may be a buffering factor that serves to protect social disinterest children from developing social problems in some degree.