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Shyness and Children's Emotionality, Regulation, and Coping: Contemporaneous, Longitudinal, and Across‐Context Relations
Author(s) -
Eisenberg Nancy,
Shepard Stephanie A.,
Fabes Richard A.,
Murphy Bridget C.,
Guthrie Ivanna K.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06242.x
Subject(s) - psychology , shyness , developmental psychology , emotionality , coping (psychology) , emotional regulation , socioemotional selectivity theory , context (archaeology) , social psychology , anxiety , clinical psychology , paleontology , psychiatry , biology
The relations of teachers' and parents' reports of children's shyness (i.e., social inhibition) at ages 6–8, 8–10, and 10–12 years to dispositional regulation, emotionality, and coping were examined. Shyness was positively related to internalizing negative emotion, coping by doing nothing, and, for parent‐rated shyness, behavioral inhibition/nonimpulsivity, attention focusing, and avoidant coping; it was negatively related to positive emotionality, instrumental coping, seeking support from teachers (at younger ages), and for teacher‐rated shyness, attentional control. Often prediction held over several years and/or across reporters. Parent‐reported internalizing negative emotion at age 4–6 predicted shyness at ages 6–8 and 8–10, but primarily for children low in attention shifting. Teacher‐rated shyness was related to low social status; parent‐rated shyness correlated with boys' adult‐rated social status at age 4–6 and with style of social interaction, particularly for girls. The relation between parent‐ and teacher‐reported shyness decreased with age. The overall pattern of findings was partially consistent with the conclusion that parent‐rated shyness reflected primarily social wariness with unfamiliar people (i.e., temperamental shyness), whereas teacher‐rated shyness tapped social inhibition due to social evaluative concerns.