Early‐ and later‐developing shyness in children: An investigation of biological and behavioral correlates

Abstract

Early theoretical work by Buss (1986a, 1986b) posited that there is an early‐developing fearful shyness that emerges during toddlerhood, and a later‐developing self‐conscious shyness that emerges during early childhood. It has been theorized that early‐developing shyness is related to fear, rooted in inherited biases, and manifests in contexts of social novelty, whereas later‐developing shyness is related to self‐conscious emotions, may result from social ridicule or poor social skills, and manifests in contexts of social exposure. Despite the hypothesized correlates of these shyness subtypes, this theory has not been empirically tested in children. We tested 96 children aged 5 to 10 years old and classified them into three groups: early‐developing shyness (n = 28; MAgeOnset = 2.4 years), later‐developing shyness (n = 19; MAgeOnset = 4.8 years), and non‐shy (n = 49). Findings revealed that children with later‐developing shyness had the highest relative cortisol responses in the context of self‐presentation, highest levels of embarrassment, and lowest social skills relative to the other groups, while children with early‐developing shyness displayed the highest relative resting right frontal brain asymmetry (a neural correlate of fear) relative to the other groups. These preliminary findings provide partial empirical support for the previously theorized correlates and distinction of early‐developing and later‐developing shyness in childhood.

Development of shyness across adolescence: Reactivity, regulation, or both?

“…Behaviorally, shyness is associated with higher and increasing levels of avoidance in the context of social threat in childhood (Hassan & Schmidt, 2020); and greater behavioral manifestations of anxiety during social interactions in adulthood (Cheek & Buss, 1981; Schmidt & Fox, 1994). Physiologically, shyness is associated with biological correlates of stress-reactivity and vulnerability, including a higher and more stable heart rate in childhood (Kagan et al, 1988; Poole et al, 2018; Schmidt et al, 1999) and in adulthood (Schmidt & Fox, 1994); higher salivary cortisol during early childhood (Kagan et al, 1987; Kagan et al, 1988; Schmidt et al, 2007; Zimmermann & Stansbury, 2004) and relatively lower salivary cortisol levels in adulthood (Beaton et al, 2006; Beaton et al, 2013) and greater relative right frontal asymmetry (associated with avoidance related tendencies) during childhood (Fox et al, 1995; Fox et al, 2001; Poole et al, 2019; Poole & Schmidt, 2020a, 2020b; Schmidt et al, 1999) and adulthood (Schmidt, 1999).…”

Evaluating the Effect of Parent–Child Interactive Groups in a School-Based Parent Training Program: Parenting Behavior, Parenting Stress and Sense of Competence

“…Therefore, it is possible that because of the larger number of parent-child dyads included in the parent-child interactive component in this study, there was not enough time for each parent to receive direct coaching and feedback. Also, as this program was delivered in schools, children may have participated in the parent-child interactive component with their peers, which may have increased their self-consciousness and impacted on learning [114,115]. Future studies may therefore consider delivering the parent-child interactive component of the program on an individual basis.…”

Exploring the relations between parenting practices, child shyness, and internalizing problems in Chinese culture.

“…For example, 15%–20% of newborns show an inhibited temperament characterized by high reactivity (e.g., excessive crying) to novel stimulation, suggesting a genetic contribution to the development of shyness (Marshall & Stevenson-Hinde, 2001). Moreover, shyness has been conceptualized as a personality trait, which means that most children exhibit consistency in their shyness patterns throughout childhood development (Poole & Schmidt, 2020). As well, shyness during elementary school year is associated with a wide range of negative adjustment outcomes, including peer difficulties, internalizing problems, and academic challenges (Sandstrom et al, 2020).…”