ABSTRACT. Using bebaviourally-defined adjectives and a 7-point scale, observers rated all individuals over a year old in a colony of rhesus monkeys every November for four years. Principal component analyses of the ratings provided a basis for the following scores each year: CONFIDENT, EXCITABLE, and SOCIABLE. Two-and three-year old females had higher EXCITABLE scores than males, and adult males were more CONFIDENT than adult females. At all ages, CONFIDENT scores were stable from year to year, whereas EXCITABLE and SOCIABLE scores were not stable until adulthood. However for primiparous females, only their EXCITABLE scores were stable from the ante-natal to post-natal year. One-year males who had had adverse experience in their first eight months were more EXCITABLE, but no less CONFIDENT or SOCIABLE than control males. Finally, correlations between scores of mothers and their yearlings showed that CONFIDENT mothers had CONFIDENT infants and SOCIABLE mothers had SOCIABLE infants, but EXCITABLE mothers had infants who were not CONFIDENT. Scores of mothers and their 1-year olds were also significantly correlated with some measures of their social behaviour taken when the infants were 8, 16, and 52 weeks old.
A new look at shyness in young children involves selecting for shyness, using criteria involving both natural and laboratory contexts, categorizing children (including a group between the two extremes), and including the sex of the child in analyses. Children of both sexes differed significantly across low, medium, and high shy groups, with negative mood, worries and fears, and problem behaviour in preschool being associated with high shyness. Although boys in general and high shy boys in particular had the highest problem behaviour scores in preschool (including acting out behaviour), maternal interactions with high shy boys were positive: significantly more positive than with boys who were high shy in natural settings but low shy in the laboratory, or with high shy girls. Of the girls, maternal style was most positive for the medium shy girls, who also received the highest relative frequency of positive maternal actions during a brief task-significantly higher than medium shy boys, as well as high shy girls.
Whereas many young children show initial wariness on meeting a stranger, shyness that lasts into middle childhood may be indicative of concurrent problems and subsequent disorder. Adjustment problems of an internalising nature, such as low self-esteem, loneliness, and anxiety may occur. Special significance has, however, been ascribed to preadolescent friendships as a means of validating self-worth and buffering against loneliness and anxiety. The main aim of the present study is to examine associations between shyness, perceptions of friendship quality, and indices of adjustment related to internalising problems. The study involves a sample of 8.4-10.6-year-olds (N = 50), preselected at 4.5 years to include a high proportion of shy children. Ratings of shyness to an unfamiliar adult had been made by different observers at 4.5 and 7 years, and at the present ages by another observer, mothers, and teachers. Observer-rated shyness was highly consistent over time and was significantly correlated with mothers' and teachers' ratings, although both significantly underestimated children's shyness relative to observer ratings. Compared with the younger children (mean age of 9 years), observed shyness (a composite over all three age points) increased in salience for the older children (mean age of 10 years), becoming significantly correlated with trait anxiety as well as low global self-worth. Indeed, global self-worth took on a central role for the older children, showing significant correlations not only with observed shyness and internalising problems (loneliness and anxiety), but also with perceptions of social acceptance and classmate support as well as friendship quality, with a named "best friend". Thus by 10 years of age, aspects of peer relationships may influence and be influenced by global self-worth, with a possible buffering effect on any potential detrimental effects of shyness.
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