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Shyness as a moderator of the link between advanced maturity and early adolescent risk behavior
Author(s) -
ZALK NEJRA VAN,
KERR MARGARET,
TILTONWEAVER LAUREE
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2011.00877.x
Subject(s) - shyness , psychology , maturity (psychological) , moderation , developmental psychology , social psychology , anxiety , psychiatry
Van Zalk, N., Kerr, M. & Tilton‐Weaver, L. (2011). Shyness as a moderator of the link between advanced maturity and early adolescent risk behavior. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52 , 341–353. Advanced maturity in early adolescence has previously been linked with several risk behaviors. In this study, we examine whether shyness and gender might moderate this link. The participants were 750 early adolescents ( M age = 13.73; 390 girls and 360 boys), followed for one year. We conducted analyses with shyness and gender as moderators of the links between advanced maturity and different types of risk behavior, and between one risk behavior and another. Despite differential patterns for boys and girls, the results suggest that being shy or not being shy modifies the links between advanced maturity and risk behavior primarily for boys. For boys, shyness reduces relationships between advanced maturity and risk behavior, whereas not being shy exacerbates the relationships between advanced maturity and high‐risk behavior. Controlling for romantic involvement and peer victimization did not alter the moderating effects, thus failing to support the idea that the weaker links for shy youths were due to shy youths not being drawn into advanced peer groups by romantic partners or peers. Thus, shyness might serve as a buffer against risk behavior in early adolescence.