In order to investigate the effects of layer-wise in-plane displacements on vibration and damping characteristics of composite laminated plates, the finite element method based on the generalized laminated plate theory(GLPT) has been formulated. Specific damping capacity of each mode was obtained by modal strain energy method. To see the effect of transverse shear on deformation, the strain energy of stress components was computed. The accuracy of this study was examined for the cylindrical bending vibration of cross-ply plate strip. The results were very accurate compared with 3-D solutions. The numerical results show that through-thickness variation of in-plane displacements has not so much influence on the natural frequency, but has a great influence on the damping of composite plates, especially on the damping of thick composite plates since the damping is affected by local behavior while the natural frequency is affected by global behavior.