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Shy Girls and Boys: A New Look
Author(s) -
StevensonHinde Joan,
Glover Ann
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1996.tb01389.x
Subject(s) - shyness , psychology , developmental psychology , temperament , mood , social psychology , personality , anxiety , psychiatry
A new took 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.