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Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of inhibitory control (IC) in the associations between shyness and young children’s social and school adjustment. Participants were 112 Italian children (M = 56.85 months, SD = 10.14) enrolled in preschool. Parents and teachers assessed child shyness and IC as well as indices of social and school adjustment. Children were interviewed to assess vocabulary. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed several significant interaction effects between shyness and IC in the prediction of outcome variables. Follow-up simple slope analyses indicated that among children with higher levels of IC, shyness was negatively related to prosocial behavior and popularity. In contrast, among children with lower levels of IC, shyness was positively associated with regulated school behaviors. Practice or Policy: The findings provide evidence to suggest that the combination of shyness and IC may contribute to children’s behavioral rigidity, which in turn may promote social and school adjustment difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this two-wave longitudinal study, concurrent and longitudinal relations among teacher-reported shyness, peer acceptance, and academic achievement were examined (Ns = 162 and 155; and Msage = 6.09 and 7.07 years). Concurrently, at both times, shyness was negatively related to peer acceptance and academic achievement, and peer acceptance was positively related to academic achievement. Longitudinally, shyness was negatively related to peer acceptance, and peer acceptance was positively related to academic achievement in zero-order correlations, but the relations were no longer significant when accounting for the stability of the constructs. Longitudinal relation between shyness and academic achievement was nonsignificant; however, shyness was indirectly linked to concurrent and later academic achievement through peer acceptance according to bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals. Sex differences in the relations were mixed. These results suggested that a lack of peer acceptance may be a mechanism through which shyness contributed to poor academic achievement in the early school years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moderate, yet relatively consistent, associations between cognitive performance and shyness have been reported throughout the child and adult literatures. The current study assessed longitudinal associations between cognition (i.e., executive functioning) and parent-report temperamental shyness from infancy to early childhood and used temporal order to explore directionality of the relations. Two hundred and eleven children contributed data at multiple ages (5 months, 10 months, 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years). The results indicated a complex pattern of association between cognition and shyness in early development and provided tentative support for both cognitive ability and temperament as causal agents at different developmental time points. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Studying moderators of intervention effects is essential to elucidate what works for whom. The present study investigated whether child personality moderates short-term and follow-up effects of an individualised preventive school-based intervention for children with externalising behaviour. The sample consisted of 48 schools, with 264 fourth-grade children displaying externalising behaviour (Mage = 10.2 years), randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 191) or no intervention control (n = 73) condition. Teachers and children reported at pretest, posttest and follow-up test about reactive and proactive aggression. Child personality was assessed by teachers at pretest. Child conscientiousness moderated short-term intervention effects, indicating that more organised and planful children benefited more from the intervention. Child extraversion moderated both short-term and follow-up intervention effects, with low extraverted children showing larger effects. These results affirm the importance of including personality as moderator of intervention effects in future studies, as interventions adapted to specific child traits might yield larger effects. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given existing gendered stereotypic assumptions regarding shyness and children's school competencies, this study explored relations among socioemotional competencies, self-perceptions, and receptive vocabulary in shy children. Ninety-one Canadian children (52 girls, 39 boys; 5-8 years) were classified as shy (n = 26) based on teachers' behavioural ratings (n = 8), and completed selfperception and vocabulary measures. Compared to their non-shy peers, shy children reported lower levels of self-worth, and were rated by their teachers as more aggressive. Shy girls scored the lowest on the vocabulary task, and received the highest teacher emotional competence ratings. Shy boys scored the highest on the vocabulary task, and received the lowest emotionally competence ratings. Gender-role stereotypes and shyness and their educational implications are discussed [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Little is known about slow-to-warm-up temperament in infancy. This study examined the trajectory of shyness in children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy in comparison to children with other temperament profiles in infancy. Participants were 996 mothers and children in the NICHD SECC studied from 6months to first grade. Latent growth curve modeling showed that children who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy tended to be shy in early childhood, but with increasing age these children became indistinguishable from children who were easy or intermediate. In comparison, children who were difficult in infancy remained more shy than children with other temperament profiles. Maternal sensitive and stimulating/supportive parenting was associated with less shyness in early childhood for boys who were slow-to-warm-up in infancy. Findings support the distinctiveness of the slow-to-warm-up temperament in comparison to other temperament profiles as well as its potential usefulness for predicting later child outcomes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The primary goal of the present study was to examine elementary teachers' strategies, attitudes, and beliefs regarding hypothetical shy (i.e., quiet), exuberant (i.e., overly talkative), and average (i.e., typical) children. We explored whether these strategies and beliefs varied as a function of the gender of the hypothetical child as well as teachers' own shyness. Participants were 275 elementary school teachers (241 women, 34 men) ranging in age from 23 to 64 years (M = 40.97, SD = 10.02). Teachers were presented with vignettes depicting hypothetical children displaying shy/quiet, exuberant/talkative, or average/typical behaviors in the classroom and responded to follow-up questions assessing their strategies and beliefs. Teachers also completed a self-report measure of shyness. Among the results, teachers were more likely to respond to exuberant/talkative children with high-powered and social learning strategies and to employ peer-focused and indirect strategies for shy/quiet children. Teachers also believed that shy/quiet children were less intelligent and would do more poorly academically than would exuberant/talkative children. However, some of these findings were moderated by teachers' own level of shyness. Results are discussed in terms of their educational implications for the social and academic functioning of shy and exuberant children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two kinds of parental behaviors-psychological control and emotional warmth- have been linked with children's shy behaviors. The questions we addressed are whether this applies to adolescent shyness, and whether shyness in itself might also affect perceptions of parental behaviors. The participants were 916 seventh to ninth graders in a longitudinal project. We used a cross-lagged panel model with three time points in MPlus with adolescents' self-reports of shyness and perceptions of parents' psychological control (intrusive control and rejection) and warmth. Shyness predicted an increase in perceptions of intrusive control by parents at Time 2, which then predicted an increase in shyness at Time 3. Shyness also predicted an increase in perceived rejection by parents at Time 2. Finally, shyness predicted decreases in parental warmth at both time points. The effects did not differ for boys and girls. These results show that adolescent shyness predicts parental behaviors, though perhaps less strongly than in childhood. They also suggest some bidirectional effects in which perceived parental responses to shy youths might serve to strengthen the shyness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The goal of the present study was to explore the moderating role of teacher-child relationships in the relation between shyness and socioemotional adjustment in early elementary school. Participants were n = 169 grade 1 children (Mage = 76.93 mos, SD = 3.86). Shortly after the start of the school year (September), parents completed an assessment of their child's shyness. In January/February teachers completed the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001). At the end of the school year (May/June), child adjustment was assessed by both child and teacher reports. Among the results, shyness and negative teacher-child relationships (i.e., dependent, conflictual) were related to socio-emotional difficulties, whereas close teacher-child relationships were associated with indices of positive adjustment. However, several interaction effects were also observed, with teacher-child relationships moderating the relations between shyness and adjustment. The pattern of results suggested a potential protective role for teacher-child relationships in shy children's adjustment. Results are discussed in terms of the contributions of teachers to young shy children's school adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies were conducted to further differentiate 3 forms of shyness previously identified in Chinese children—shyness toward strangers, anxious shyness, and regulated shyness—by examining the relation of the 3 forms of shyness to children's inhibited behavior, physiological reactivity (measured by heart period [HP]), and effortful control. In Study 1 (N = 237; M age = 9.17 years), the authors examined the 3 forms of shyness in relation to children's inhibited behavior and HP assessed in 3 conditions: at baseline, during a stranger encounter, and in a card-sorting task with social evaluative cues. Results of confirmatory factor analyses provided support for a 3-factor model of shyness. Shyness toward strangers was associated with children's inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the stranger encounter and children's HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session, whereas anxious shyness was related to children's inhibition (positively) and HP (negatively) in the card-sorting session. Regulated shyness was not associated with children's inhibition in any session but was negatively related to HP in the stranger encounter session. In Study 2 (N = 208; M age = 6.57 years), the authors examined children's shyness toward strangers and effortful control at age 6 years in relation to anxious and regulated shyness 2 years later. Results showed shyness toward strangers was related to regulated shyness among children with high or moderate effortful control, and shyness toward strangers was related to anxious shyness among children with low or moderate effortful control. Findings support a multidimensional view of shyness in Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on formulations about the possible consequences for adaptation of gender non-normative behaviour, we investigated predictive and concurrent relations of hyperactivity and shyness to various aspects of adaptation focusing on possible effects of sex. At ages 5-6, parents and preschool teachers rated hyperactivity and shyness for 151 children (50% boys). At age 9, we obtained teacher ratings of hyperactivity, internalizing and externalizing problems, self-ratings of trait anxiety, and peer nominations of shyness, social preference, and aggression. Several effects of sex were found. Hyperactivity ratings were more strongly related across time and raters for boys than for girls. In the predictive analyses, boys' hyperactivity was more strongly related to aggression than was girls' hyperactivity, and in concurrent analyses, girls' hyperactivity was more strongly associated with low social preference than was boys' hyperactivity. There was a protective effect of shyness with regard to aggression that applied only to boys, that is, at high hyperactivity levels, boys with high shyness levels were less aggressive than boys with low shyness levels. There were also main effects of hyperactivity and shyness. In predictive and concurrent analyses, hyperactivity was associated with low social preference, high levels of externalizing problems and with aggression, whereas shyness was associated with high levels of internalizing problems. Finally, there was an interactive effect of hyperactivity and shyness. In the concurrent analyses, an exacerbating effect was demonstrated insofar as high shyness was associated with low social preference at high, but not at low levels of hyperactivity. The different developmental risks of hyperactivity and shyness were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined differences in performance between 20 shy and 20 matched nonshy children on a narrative task and in the way parents scaffolded their narrative performance when reading the wordless book Frog, Where Are You, by Mercer Mayer. Consistent with previous research, results demonstrated that shy children spoke less than their nonshy peers and volunteered less story content. Parents, however, did not differ in how they scaffolded their children's speech turns, nor in the amount of semantic information they provided. Thus, these communicative differences were not accounted for by differential adult scaffolding. Implications for encouraging more verbal behavior from shy children and for the design of wordless storybooks are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on two exploratory studies of situations that elicit shyness in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 100; Mage = 10.42) interviews with Chinese children identified three kinds of shyness-eliciting situations: social novelty; negative social evaluation; and public attention. In Study 2 (N = 162, Mage = 10.19), children's self-reported shyness in various social situations was found to be differentially associated with three forms of shyness common to Chinese culture: shyness toward strangers; anxious shyness; and regulated shyness. The findings revealed both similarities and differences in the eliciting situations for various forms of shyness in Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing research results indicating that shyness is a risk factor for psychosocial maladjustment in childhood, less is known about the conceptual mechanisms that may underlie these associations. The purpose of the current study was to explore links between self-reported shyness, coping strategies and social functioning in middle childhood. As well, we sought to examine the reliance on internalizing coping strategies as a potential mediator of the link between shyness and social functioning. Participants were 355 children aged 9 to 11 years who completed measures of shyness, loneliness, positive and negative affect, social anxiety, self-concept, well-being, and coping strategies. Results indicated that shyness was associated with greater internalizing difficulties and lower wellbeing. Moreover, internalizing coping was found to partially mediate the relation between shyness and certain indices of internalizing problems. These results suggest a conceptual pathway, where an over-reliance on internalizing coping may partially explain why shy children experience internalizing difficulties in middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests to teachers some instructional practices which may motivate students to engage in writing. These suggestions are based on the assumption that motivation to write is basically an attitude toward writing, which includes two main components: the student's sense of competence in writing, and his or her view of the role and relevance of writing as a subject. Suggestions to teachers regard three main and closely connected aspects. First, the writing tasks: examples of meaningful writing activities are presented. Second, the writer: the importance of fostering the student's sense of competence in writing is underlined. Last, an unstrained writing environment as the condition for fruitful individual and collaborative writing is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shy children are wary in the face of new social situations and perceived social evaluation. In this regard, the transition to kindergarten may represent a particularly challenging task for shy children. In this review, we explore the kindergarten classroom as a particularly stressful context for shy children. We examine the adjustment difficulties that shy children may face when starting school, including problems with peers, teachers, and academics. We also consider what teachers can do to help ease the school adjustment problems of shy children. It is our hope to continue to raise awareness in parents, educators, and mental health care professionals with regards to the challenges that shy children face at school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N= 107, Mage = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers' open-ended descriptions of children's shy behavior. In Study 2 (N= 388, Mage = 10.80) and Study 3 (N= 198, Mage = 10.20), the construct validity of the two forms of shyness that emerged in Study 1 (i.e., anxious shyness and regulated shyness) were examined in relation to children's social preference, temperament, and psychosocial adjustment. A distinct pattern of results was found for anxious shyness and regulated shyness. The findings highlight the role of culture in shaping expression of children's shy behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to explore young children's attitudes and responses to different forms of social withdrawal by eliciting responses to hypothetical vignettes. Participants included 137 children (49 boys, 88 girls) in kindergarten and grade 1 classes ( Mage = 75.94 months, SD = 9.03) in Ottawa, Canada. Parents rated child characteristics, including shyness, unsociability and aggression. Children were also interviewed individually and presented with a series of hypothetical vignettes describing the behaviors of shy, unsociable, aggressive and socially competent children. In response to each vignette, children were asked a series of questions designed to assess their perceptions, attitudes and responses toward each child behavior. Results suggested that young children made surprisingly sophisticated distinctions between shyness and unsociability, demonstrating differences in terms of attributions of behavioral intent, liking and sympathetic responses. In addition, unsociable children evidenced a distinct pattern of responses to hypothetical peers. These findings add to the growing body of research distinguishing different forms of social withdrawal, and shed some light as to why unsociability in early childhood may not be so benign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights a three-point screening tool to identify whether a shy patient is suffering from social anxiety disorder. This tool assesses whether the patient's fear of embarrassment causes him or her to avoid speaking to people, whether he or she avoid activities in which he or she is the center of attention or whether looking stupid is one of his or her worst fears. Social anxiety differs from shyness in children in its ability to debilitate the child's ability to grow and develop socially in an appropriate manner.

The primary objectives of this investigation were to examine the attributions, emotional reactions, and coping strategies of shy/withdrawn and aggressive girls and boys and to examine whether such social cognitions differ within the relationship context of friendship. Drawn from a sample of fifth and sixth graders (M age = 10.79 years; SD = .77), 78 shy/withdrawn, 76 aggressive, and 85 control children were presented with hypothetical social situations that first involved unfamiliar peers, and then a mutual good friend. Results revealed group and gender differences and similarities, depending on the relationship context. From our findings emerges a central message: friends' involvement during interpersonal challenges or stressors mitigates children's attributions, emotions, and coping responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the hypothesis that negative self-schemas and a range of internalizing problems may be associated with social withdrawal in late childhood and early adolescence. The author used an in-school peer nominations from the Revised Class Play wherein 132 eleven-to-thirteen-year-old children were classified as withdrawn, aggressive or normative control. The self-referent rating task and Youth Self-Report completed the participating children revealed that socially withdrawn children or adolescents have higher levels of internalizing problems including shy or withdrawn behaviors, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and somatic problems.

The goal of the present study was to explore the role of expressive vocabulary as a moderator in the relation between shyness and maladjustment in early child- hood. Participants were 82 preschool children (39 males, 43 females). Mothers rated children's shyness at the start of the preschool year. Children were inter- viewed individually to assess expressive vocabulary and self-perceptions. Near the end of the school year, teachers completed ratings of child adjustment. No significant relation was found between shyness and expressive vocabulary. However, shyness and expressive vocabulary were Found to interact in the prediction of indices of maladjustment. Specifically, increased expressive vocabulary appeared to act as a buffer against certain negative outcomes related to shyness. Implications are discussed in terms of the possible effect of social con- text on shy children's performance on formal language assessments, as well as the potential role of verbal abilities in the coping skills of shy children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral strategies, including exposure, social skills training, and peer-mediated approaches, used to treat childhood shyness and related impairments are described. In addition, relevant outcome studies published within the past 20 years are evaluated, and limitations regarding the generalization, maintenance, and social validity of the reported treatment gains are addressed. Although the interventions reviewed have demonstrated short-term merit in ameliorating social and emotional impairments, such as problematic peer relations and internalizing difficulties, there currently is a lack of evidence to support the social validity and long-term generalization and maintenance of such behavioral gains. Thus, recommendations for future research are made, including the need to (a) assess the social validity of treatment outcomes, (b) utilize important socialization agents (e.g., parents, teachers, peers), and (c) conduct prevention research and longitudinal outcome studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All animals regularly encounter events that recruit attention and a vigilant posture because the stimuli share some features with similar events encountered in the past. Some animals typically approach these discrepant events, whereas others typically avoid them. There are at least three different questions one cam ask about these complementary reactions to unfamiliar events. One line of enquiry seeks to determine, within or between species, which events consistently elicit approach and which avoidance. The sight of the mother usually provokes the former in mammalian infants; the sight of an unfamiliar adult typically provokes an initial avoidance. A child's environment contains many sources of unfamiliarity. Children who avoid eating unfamiliar foods are called finicky. If the source of unfamiliarity is a person, we call the avoidant child shy and the one who approaches strangers sociable. Some shy children acquire their shy profile primarily as a result of experience. These children are shy with people, but they are less likely to avoid most unfamiliar places and objects.

The purpose of this study was to examine empathy-related and personal correlates of children's comforting reactions. Quantity and quality of third to sixth graders comforting of a crying infant were assessed and their relations with situational and dispositional empathy-related responding, shyness, and vagal tone were examined. Quantity and quality of boys comforting were related to reports of sympathetic/empathic responding to an empathy-inducing film, whereas quantity of girls' comforting was associated with low facial and heart rate markers of vicarious distress in another context. Quality of comforting was associated with markers of girls' vicarious distress. Comforting was negatively related to younger children's shyness and marginally, positive correlated with girls' vagal tone. Suppression of vagal tone was associated with quantity of comforting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has shown that infants who display a high frequency of motor activity and negative affect at 4 months of age are likely to be behaviorally inhibited toddlers. We examined social behaviors, maternal report of temperament, salivary cortisol, and baseline startle responses at age 4 in a sample of children, some of whom displayed a high frequency of motor activity and negative affect at 4 months of age. Infants who displayed this temperamental profile were reported by their mothers as more shy at age 4 compared with other children. We also found that 4-year-olds who displayed a high frequency of wary behavior during peer play exhibited relatively high morning salivary cortisol, were reported as contemporaneously shy by their mothers, and were behaviorally inhibited at 14 months of age. There were no significant relations found between baseline startle and morning salivary cortisol and measures of shyness at age 4. We speculate that high levels of cortisol in shy children may induce changes in the amygdala, exacerbating their fearfulness. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 30: 127–140, 1997 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on emotional indicators on human figure drawings of shy and aggressive children. A recent study showed that 30 signs on human figure drawings (HFDs) are valid emotional indicators for children age 5 through 12. It is now in order to interpret the clinical meaning of the nine emotional indicators that occurred primarily on the HFDs of the shy and the aggressive Ss, and to compare these findings with those of other investigators.

This article discusses a study which investigated certain social, linguistics, and achievement characteristics of a group of shy, uncommunicative children in the middle grades of a suburban school district in the U.S. The study is based on the researcher's clinical experience, which suggests that the shy child has areas of deficiency other than oral communication. The procedure for conducting the study is stated.

A Community-wide family life institute held recently in Florence, South Carolina, called forth a response of unusual proportions. Twelve hundred fifty persons enrolled in a one-week institute based on small-group discussions followed by a featured address on some aspect of family living. This article is a simple recording of the facts of what one community did to strengthen its family life, how the institute came about, the results, and what was learned from the experience. Concerns of those in early teens included questions about the art of dating, when to start, what to do, whether to permit a good-night kiss. Older girls asked more sophisticated questions, showing more concern with the depth of relationships and serious planning toward marriage. The parents of young children wanted to know how to respond to anxious, shy, fearful and insecure children and how to deal with such problems as rivalry, jealousy and temper tantrums. Senior adults were interested in what could be done about some of their typical problems of resisting change, becoming resentful, and tending to withdraw from social life.

Introduction: Professional guidelines for forensic interviews of children have emphasized cognitive factors associated with children's memory retrieval and paid less attention to the emotional factors that may inhibit the cooperativeness of reluctant interviewees. Objectives: The current study explored whether an additional focus on rapport-building altered the dynamics of interviews with alleged victims of intra-familial abuse, and increased abuse disclosures. Methods: 426 4- to 13-year-old suspected victims of intra-familial abuse were interviewed using either the NICHD Investigative Interview Standard Protocol (SP) or a Revised Protocol (RP) designed to enhance rapport between the child and interviewer. Results: Children were more likely to make valid (corroborated) allegations of abuse when the RP was employed, with variation according to age, gender and prior disclosure. Similar patterns were evident in a larger sample of 1424 which included non-corroborated cases. Subsequent analyses focusing on a subset of interviews (n=200) were designed to explore differences in the dynamics of the interviews using the SP or RP which may account for the increase of allegation rates using the RP. Methods: The interviews were coded to identify expressions of the interviewers’ support and the children's reluctance and uncooperativeness in the pre-substantive portions of the interviews. Results: As expected, RP interviews contained more supportive comments and fewer unsupportive comments. Children interviewed in this way showed reduced reluctance, with remarkably fewer expressions of resistance and denial but also fewer omissions. Conclusions: Focus on rapport-building altered the interview dynamics, rendering reluctant children more cooperative and more likely to disclose their abuse. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]