Shyness and risk-taking during peer observation in children and adolescents.

Although temperamental shyness is conceptualized as a trait marked by cautiousness, we know relatively little about its relation to risk-taking. We examined how shyness was related to opportunities for risk-taking while considering how social context (i.e., presence of peers) and developmental stage (i.e., children and adolescents) might influence this relation. In the current study, 198 children (Mage = 10.17 years) and 221 adolescents (Mage = 13.46 years) completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) alone or during a peer observation manipulation. For children and adolescents, shyness was related to physiological arousal and self-reporting feeling anxious during the peer condition. However, peer observation did not influence the relation between shyness and behavioral responses during the BART. Across both alone and peer conditions, shyness was related to a longer response time for children and adolescents, which may reflect decisional conflict during risk-taking opportunities. Furthermore, shyness in children (but not in adolescents) was related to poorer performance (i.e., fewer points), whereas shyness was unrelated to risk-taking propensity (i.e., number of pumps) for both children and adolescents. Overall, although the presence of peers may induce anxiety during a risk-taking opportunity for children and adolescents higher in shyness, this does not appear to modify their risk-taking behaviors. Instead, shyer children and adolescents in general may take a longer time to decide whether to act in a risky manner, whereas shy children in particular may show poorer performance in obtaining a reward on a risk-taking task.

Associations between Shyness and Victimization with Substance Use Outcomes in the National Comorbidity and Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Surveys.

Background: There is a lack of consensus among researchers on the association between shyness and substance use. This may be due to unexamined modifiers of this association, such as childhood victimization. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine if experiencing different types of victimization (emotional, physical, sexual, and poly-victimization) modifies the association between shyness and substance use outcomes in adults. In this study, we performed moderation analyses to investigate whether victimization moderates the association between shyness and substance use/abuse. Data came from the National Comorbidity Survey Baseline (NCS-1; 1990-1992) and the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Surveys (CPES; 2001-2003). Substance use outcomes included were binge drinking, tobacco use, other drug use, and DSM-III-R (NCS-1)/DSM-IV (CPES) classifications of alcohol and drug abuse. Results: Results from NCS-1 supported a moderating role of childhood victimization on the relationship between shyness and tobacco use only, specifically for emotional (p = .031) and physical (p < .001) victimization, and poly-victimization (p < .001). Results from CPES showed a moderating role of lifetime sexual abuse for binge drinking (p = .017), other drug use (p = .028), and alcohol abuse (p = .004). For both datasets, the associations between shyness and substance use outcomes were stronger when there were no victimization histories. Conclusion: These findings give insight on the complexity of the interaction between shyness and victimization. Future research could focus on mechanisms, such as cognitive processes, that may contribute to interactions between shyness and victimization history on substance outcomes.

Is shyness related to depression and suicide risk?

INTRODUCTION: Suicidal behavior is an important health issue, representing a leading cause of mortality, particularly among young adults. Depression was found to be predictive of suicide risk and predicted by shyness. Consequently, we tested a model wherein shyness leads to depression, which in turn leads to suicide risk. Moreover, we expected gender to moderate the effect of shyness on depression and suicide risk. METHODS: A convenience sample of 478 first-year college students (51% women, Age: M = 25.42, SD = 3.61) completed online self-report questionnaires assessing suicide risk, depression, shyness, and demographic variables. RESULTS: As expected, shyness was significantly correlated with depression (r = 0.40) and suicide risk (r = 0.24), and depression and suicide risk were also correlated with each other (r = 0.57). Depression statistically mediated the relationship between shyness and suicide risk (indirect effect for women = 0.92, SE = 0.16; for men = 0.72, SE = 0.17). Gender did not moderate the mediation effect. However, a direct link between shyness and suicide risk was found only among men (direct effect = 0.52, SE = 0.21). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that shyness may be a significant factor in the development of depression and suicide risk, potentially serving as a valuable marker for identifying at-risk individuals. Moreover, clinicians should be aware of these associations, particularly among men, in order to maintain and support mental health as well as reduce suicidality.

iGen or shyGen? Generational Differences in Shyness.

Generation Z (1997-2012) has been characterized in the popular media as more socially inhibited, cautious, and risk averse than prior generations, but are these differences found between generations on an empirical level? And, if so, are these differences observable within generations in response to acute events such as the COVID-19 pandemic? Using a simplified time-lagged design to control for age effects, we examined between-group differences in self-reported shyness in young adult participants (N = 806, age: 17-25 years) at the same developmental age and university from the millennial generation (tested: 1999-2001; n = 266, Mage = 19.67 years, 72.9% female) and Generation Z (tested: 2018-2020), the latter generation stratified into prepandemic (n = 263, M = 18.86 years, 82.4% female) and midpandemic (n = 277, Mage = 18.67 years, 79.6% female) groups. After first establishing measurement invariance to ensure trustworthy group comparisons, we found significantly higher mean levels of shyness across each successive cohort, starting with millennials, through Generation Z before the pandemic, to Generation Z during the pandemic.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution and childhood internalizing problems: roles of shyness and anterior cingulate cortex activity.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exposure to air pollution increases the risk for psychiatric disorders characterized by internalizing problems. In this study, we examined the roles of shyness and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity in the association between prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and children's internalizing problems at 7-9 years old. METHODS: Participants include 53 children (31 girls, 22 boys). Personal air monitoring was conducted over 48 continuous hours during the third trimester of pregnancy to measure 8 PAHs. Mothers reported children's shyness (Emotionality Activity Sociability Temperament Survey) at age 5 and internalizing problems (Child Behavior Checklist) at ages 7-9. ACC activity was measured by fMRI during the Simon Spatial Incompatibility task at ages 7-9. RESULTS: Shyness mediated the association between prenatal PAH exposure and internalizing problems. Higher prenatal PAH exposure predicted increased shyness, which in turn predicted greater internalizing problems. Moreover, left ACC activity during the Simon task moderated the association between prenatal PAH exposure and internalizing problems. Prenatal PAH exposure predicted increased risk for internalizing problems only when children showed heightened left ACC activity during the resolution of cognitive conflict. CONCLUSIONS: Our study innovatively synthesizes the fields of developmental psychology and environmental health science to offer new insights into the risk factors for anxiety disorders. Facilitating the development of healthy reactive and regulatory processes may improve the developmental outcomes for children highly exposed to air pollution.

Shyness subtypes and associations with social anxiety: A comparison study of Canadian and Chinese children.

Previous research has shown that there are distinct types of children's shyness within eastern and western cultures, with different origins, developmental courses, and outcomes. However, the measures used to examine children's shyness in eastern contexts have been developed almost exclusively in the North American context. Whether shyness subtypes and their predictive associations are conserved between western and eastern cultures on a children's shyness measure developed in an eastern context is an empirical question. Here we examined (a) whether two subtypes from the Chinese Shyness Scale (i.e., anxious and regulated) were identified in a western context, and (b) whether cultural context moderated the relation between the two subtypes of shy behavior and a widely used western characterized social anxiety measure. The participants were children aged 3-5 years from China (Mage  = 4.46 years, SD = 0.64, n = 182, 53.8% boys) and Canada (Mage  = 3.99 years, SD = 0.82, n = 201, 42.3% boys). The results indicated that the two shyness subtypes and the one-factor social anxiety construct were identified in both cultures. Subsequently, latent moderation structural equation modelling revealed that anxious shyness was significantly and positively related to social anxiety in children from both countries, but more strongly in Canada. Conversely, regulated shyness was significantly and positively related to social anxiety in Canadian children, but not in Chinese children. Findings are discussed regarding possible cultural explanations for why the relations between two Chinese shyness subtypes and social anxiety are different in Chinese and Canadian contexts and their implications to understanding cross-cultural differences in developmental shyness. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Two subtypes of shyness (anxious and regulated shyness) reported in China were identified in both China and Canada Country/culture moderated the relation between shyness subtypes and social anxiety Anxious shyness was positively related to social anxiety in both countries Regulated shyness was positively related to social anxiety in Canadian children, but not in Chinese children.

Children's shyness and physiological arousal to a peer's social stress.

Previous work has shown that children's shyness is related to personal anxiety during social stress, but we know little about how shyness is related to anxiety during a peer's social stress. Children (Mage  = 10.22 years, SD = 0.81, N = 62) were paired with an unfamiliar peer and engaged in a speech task while electrocardiography was recorded. We modeled changes in children's heart rate, a physiological correlate of anxiety, while they observed their peer prepare and deliver a speech. Results revealed that the observing child's shyness related to increases in their heart rate during their peer's preparation period, but modulation of this arousal was sensitive to the presenting peer's anxious behavior while delivering their speech. Specifically, if the presenting child displayed high levels of anxious behavior, the observing child's shyness was related to further increases in heart rate, but if the presenting child displayed low levels of anxious behavior, the observing child's shyness was related to decreases in heart rate from the preparation period. Shy children may experience physiological arousal to a peer's social stress but can regulate this arousal based on social cues from the peer, which may be due to heightened social threat detection and/or empathic anxiety.

The more you avoid, the worse you will get: a cross-lagged panel model of shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression.

BACKGROUND: The current situation of adolescent depression is relatively serious, and has aroused widespread concern. Aim: This study aimed to examine the relationship between shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression through a 12-month longitudinal survey. METHODS: A total of 1214 adolescents participated in the study. Cross-lagged models were adopted for data analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that significant positive relationships exist among shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression. Shyness at W2 mediated the relationship between mobile phone dependence at W1 and depression at W3. Mobile phone dependence at W2 played a mediating role between depression at W1 and depression at W3. CONCLUSION: This study revealed the possible reciprocal associations between shyness, mobile phone dependence and depression in adolescents. This enlightened us that incorporating shyness and mobile phone dependence interventions into prevention designs for depression in adolescents may be beneficial.

Male mate choice in mosquitofish: personality outweighs body size.

BACKGROUND: Despite its important implications in behavioural and evolutionary ecology, male mate choice has been poorly studied, and the relative contribution of personality and morphological traits remains largely unknown. We used standard two-choice mating trials to explore whether two personality traits (i.e., shyness and activity) and/or body size of both sexes affect mate choice in male mosquitofish Gambusia affinis. In the first set of trials involving 40 males, we tested whether males would prefer larger females and whether the preference would be affected by males' body length and personality traits, and females' activity level. In the second set of trials (using another 40 males), we tested whether males would prefer more active females and whether the preference would be affected by males' body length and personality traits. RESULTS: Both shyness and activity in males were significantly repeatable and constituted a behavioural syndrome. No overall directional preference for large (or small) females with the same activity levels was detected because larger males preferred larger females and smaller males chose smaller females. Males' strength of preference for larger females was also positively correlated with the activity level of larger females but negatively with the activity level of smaller females. Males spent more time associating with active females regardless of their body lengths, indicating males' selection was more influenced by female activity level than body size. Males' preference for inactive females was enhanced when females became active. There was no convincing evidence for the effect of males' personality traits or body length on their preferences for females' activity level. CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports the importance of body size in male mate choice but highlights that personality traits may outweigh body size preferences when males choose mating partners.

Pathways from maternal shyness to adolescent social anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Social anxiety is amongst the most prevalent adolescent mental health problems; however, it is often unrecognized due to its comorbidity with other anxiety problems such as generalized anxiety. Thus, understanding the unique developmental pathways to social anxiety is critical for improving its prevention. We examined the pathway from maternal shyness, when children were 4 years old, to adolescents' social anxiety at age 15 through social wariness at age 7. We hypothesized that childhood social wariness would mediate the association between maternal shyness and social anxiety in adolescence. METHODS: Participants (N = 291; 54% female) were followed from early childhood to adolescence. Mothers reported on their own shyness when children were 4 years old. Social wariness toward unfamiliar peers was observed in the laboratory at ages 4 and 7. Adolescent social anxiety and generalized anxiety were assessed via self-report, parent-report, and clinical diagnoses at age 15. RESULTS: Maternal shyness was positively associated with adolescent social anxiety but not generalized anxiety at age 15. Higher levels of maternal shyness at age 4 predicted greater social wariness at age 7, which in turn predicted greater social anxiety but not generalized anxiety at age 15. Social wariness at age 7 partially mediated the association between maternal shyness and adolescent social anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies a unique developmental pathway from maternal shyness to adolescent social anxiety. Findings suggest that childhood social wariness connects maternal shyness to adolescent social anxiety.

Expressions of positive and negative shyness in preschool-age children: Temperamental correlates and visual attention to emotions.

Recent empirical evidence shows heterogeneity in the expression of shyness in children. Some children tend to express their shyness displaying positive affect along with gaze aversions (positive shyness), whereas others display more negative emotional reactions accompanied by gaze aversions (negative shyness). Temperamental differences in approach-avoidance tendencies are likely to explain these differences in shyness expression in children and influence their visual attention to social stimuli, yet little empirical attention has been devoted to these associations. Our study examined the temperamental profile (approach, fear, and inhibitory control) associated with positive and negative shyness and the relation between expression of shyness and attention to social stimuli in 47 children aged 3-6 years. Children's positive and negative expressions of shyness were assessed using a performance task. Visual attention to facial emotional expressions was measured with the dot - probe task, and temperament was measured with maternal reports. Positive shyness was found to be positively associated with temperamental dimensions of approach, inhibitory control, and fear. Positive shyness was significantly associated with attentional orientation to positive facial expressions and with less attentional avoidance of threatening facial expressions. Negative shyness was positively associated only with temperamental fear, and no associations were found with attention to social stimuli. Our study provides empirical support for the association between temperament and the multidimensional character of the expression of positive shyness and adds relevant evidence regarding the connection between the expression of shyness and attention to social stimuli.

Children's shyness and frontal electroencephalogram delta-beta correlation in the pediatric surgical setting.

The prospect of surgery is a unique psychologically threatening context for children, often leading to experiences of preoperative anxiety. Recent research suggests that individual differences in children's temperament may influence responses to the surgical setting. In the present study, we examined whether individual differences in shyness were related to differences in frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) delta-beta correlation, a proposed neural correlate of emotion regulation and dysregulation, among children anticipating surgery. Seventy-one children (36 boys, Mage  = 10.3 years, SDage  = 1.7 years) undergoing elective surgery self-reported on their own shyness, and their parents also reported on their child's shyness. Using a mobile, dry sensor EEG headband, frontal EEG measures were collected and self- and observer-reported measures of state anxiety were obtained at the children's preoperative visit (Time 1) and on the day of surgery (Time 2). A latent cluster analysis derived classes of low shy (n = 37) and high shy (n = 34) children using the child- and parent-reported shyness measures. We then compared the two classes on frontal EEG delta-beta correlation using between- and within-subjects analyses. Although children classified as high versus low in shyness had higher self- and observer-reported state anxiety across both time periods, frontal EEG delta-beta correlation increased from T1 to T2 only among low shy children using a between-subjects delta-beta correlation measure. We discuss the interpretation of a relatively higher delta-beta correlation as a correlate of emotion regulatory versus dysregulatory strategies for some children in a "real-world," surgical context.

Observed shyness leads to more automatic imitation in early childhood.

The authors investigated children's automatic imitation in the context of observed shyness by adapting the widely used automatic imitation task (AIT). AIT performance in 6-year-old children (N = 38; 22 female; 71% White) and young adults (17-22 years; N = 122; 99 female; 32% White) was first examined as a proof of concept and to assess age-related differences in responses to the task (Experiment 1). Although error rate measures of automatic imitation were comparable between children and adults, children displayed less reaction time interference than adults. Children's shyness coded from direct behavioral observations was then examined in relation to AIT scores (Experiment 2). Observed shyness at 5 years old predicted higher automatic imitation one year later. We discuss the latter findings in the context of an adaptive strategy. We argue that shy children may possess a heightened sensitivity to others' motor cues and therefore are more likely to implicitly imitate social partners' actions. This tendency may serve as a strategy to signal appeasement and affiliation, allowing for shy children to blend in and feel less inhibited in a social environment.

Normative Beliefs about Social Withdrawal in Adolescence.

The goal of this study is to explore normative beliefs about social withdrawal during adolescence. Participants were N = 419 adolescents (Mage = 16.13 years), who completed measures of normative beliefs about social withdrawal and their own social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability). Among the results, adolescents reported greater overall acceptance of unsociability compared to shyness, however, some gender differences also emerged. Specifically, adolescents were more accepting of unsociability when depicted by hypothetical females, and more accepting of shyness when depicted by hypothetical males. Participant social withdrawal was associated with greater acceptance of socially withdrawn behaviors in others. These findings provide a first look at normative beliefs about social withdrawal during a developmentally critical age period for this construct.

Shyness, emotion processing, and objective quality of life among adults with schizophrenia: an ERP study.

Purpose: Although individual differences in temperament have been shown to influence Quality of Life (QoL) among individuals with schizophrenia, there exists considerable heterogeneity in such outcomes suggesting moderating factors. Here we used event-related potential (ERP) methodology to examine whether the processing of facial emotions moderated the association between shyness and objective QoL among adults with schizophrenia.Methods: Forty stable outpatients with schizophrenia completed measures of shyness and QoL. Early visual ERP components (P100, N170) were recorded while participants viewed emotional faces.Results: We observed a significant interaction between shyness and P100 and N170 amplitudes in response to fearful faces in predicting Intrapsychic Foundations QoL. Patients with reduced P100 and N170 amplitudes to fearful compared to neutral faces displayed the lowest QoL, but only if they were also high in shyness. We also found a significant interaction between shyness and ERP latency at the P100 and N170 in response to happy faces. Patients who displayed longer P100 and N170 latencies to happy faces compared to neutral faces and with higher shyness levels scored lower on Intrapsychic Foundations and Interpersonal Relations QoL, respectively.Conclusion: These findings suggest that the neural processing of emotional faces and shyness interact to predict aspects of QoL among outpatients with schizophrenia.

Age-related differences in behavioral problems between shy adults and shy children.

Although both concurrent and longitudinal relations between shyness and behavioral problems are well-established in childhood, there is relatively less work exploring these associations in emerging adulthood. In addition, age-related differences in the strength of these relations in child and adult samples have not been fully explored within the same study. We collected measures of shyness, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and social problems in a sample of 94 typically developing 6-year-old children (50 female; Mage = 78.3 months, SD = 3.1 months) and 775 undergraduate students (633 female, Mage = 18.2 years, SD = 0.9 years) from parent-reported and self-reported questionnaires, respectively. Shyness interacted with age in predicting internalizing behaviors and social problems, but not externalizing behaviors. Specifically, shyness was concurrently and positively related to internalizing and social problems in young adulthood, but this relation was not found in childhood. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental consequences of shyness across the lifespan and limitations of relying on ratings from different informants when examining age-related differences.

Children's shyness and neural responses to social exclusion: Patterns of midfrontal theta power usually not observed until adolescence.

Adverse peer experiences, such as social exclusion, are known risks for socioemotional problems among shy youth. Yet, little is known about how shy children and adolescents process social exclusion in the brain and whether these responses are amplified in adolescence. Using the Cyberball task, we examined mediofrontal theta (4-7 Hz) event-related EEG spectral power during conditions of fair play and social exclusion in 122 participants (58 children, ages 10-12 years, and 64 adolescents, ages 14-17 years). Age effects of the task showed that adolescents displayed heightened theta power to both outright rejection and baseline "not my turn" events, whereas children showed higher theta power to rejection compared with "not my turn" events. Further results on individual differences showed that children with relatively higher levels of shyness displayed enhanced theta power to both rejection and "not my turn" events-a pattern that also was observed in adolescents. These findings suggest that a pattern of heightened neural sensitivity to both outright social exclusion and threats of exclusion, which is the norm by adolescence, also is observed in children with higher levels of shyness. The similar neural response pattern might be driven by salient social motivations that similarly modify the social cognition and behaviors of these groups and might reflect neural antecedents of rejection sensitivity.

Understanding crown shyness from a 3-D perspective.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Crown shyness describes the phenomenon whereby tree crowns avoid growing into each other, producing a puzzle-like pattern of complementary tree crowns in the canopy. Previous studies found that tree slenderness plays a role in the development of crown shyness. Attempts to quantify crown shyness have largely been confined to 2-D approaches. This study aimed to expand the current set of metrics for crown shyness by quantifying the characteristic of 3-D surface complementarity between trees displaying crown shyness, using LiDAR-derived tree point clouds. Subsequently, the relationship between crown surface complementarity and slenderness of trees was assessed. METHODS: Fourteen trees were scanned using a laser scanning device. Individual tree points clouds were extracted semi-automatically and manually corrected where needed. A metric that quantifies the surface complementarity (Sc) of a pair of protein molecules is applied to point clouds of pairs of adjacent trees. Then 3-D tree crown surfaces were generated from point clouds by computing their α shapes. KEY RESULTS: Tree pairs that were visually determined to have overlapping crowns scored significantly lower Sc values than pairs that did not overlap (n = 14, P < 0.01). Furthermore, average slenderness of pairs of trees correlated positively with their Sc score (R2 = 0.484, P < 0.01), showing agreement with previous studies on crown shyness. CONCLUSIONS: The characteristic of crown surface complementarity present in trees displaying crown shyness was succesfully quantified using a 3-D surface complementarity metric adopted from molecular biology. Crown surface complementarity showed a positive relationship to tree slenderness, similar to other metrics used for measuring crown shyness. The 3-D metric developed in this study revealed how trees adapt the shape of their crowns to those of adjacent trees and how this is linked to the slenderness of the trees.

Vigilant or avoidant? Children's temperamental shyness, patterns of gaze, and physiology during social threat.

Temperamental shyness is characterized by fear, wariness, and the perception of threat in response to social novelty. Previous work has been inconsistent regarding attentional patterns to social threat among shy children, with evidence for both avoidance and vigilance. We examined relations between children's shyness and gaze aversion during the approach of a stranger (i.e., a context of social novelty), and tested whether these patterns of gaze moderated relations between shyness and autonomic reactivity and recovery. Participants included 152 typically-developing children (Mage  = 7.82 years, SD = 0.44 years) who had their respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) recorded during baseline, social novelty, and recovery. Children's shyness correlated with increases in self-reported nervousness from baseline to social novelty, providing support for perceived threat. Results revealed that children's proportion of gaze aversion from social novelty was related to shyness in a U-shape pattern such that both low levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional vigilance) and high levels of gaze aversion (i.e., attentional avoidance) were related to higher levels of shyness. Further, we found that children's shyness was directly related to decreases in RSA from baseline to social novelty, whereas quadratic gaze to social novelty moderated the relation between shyness and RSA recovery. Specifically, shyness was related to greater RSA recovery among children who exhibited attentional vigilance during the novel social interaction. Our findings provide support for both avoidance of, and vigilance to, social threat among different shy children, and these gaze strategies may be differentially related to physiological regulation during novel social encounters.

Trajectories of behavioral avoidance in real time: Associations with temperament and physiological dysregulation in preschoolers.

Although excessive avoidance has been implicated in mental health problems and socioemotional difficulties, relatively little is known about dynamic changes of avoidance behaviors. We used a latent class growth analysis to examine the temporal course of avoidance behaviors in real time and determined whether the derived classes were distinguishable on temperament and physiological markers of regulation and reactivity (N = 153; Mage = 4.20 years). A three-class solution was found and identified a low, medium, and high increasing avoidance group. The high and increasing avoidance group had the highest physiological reactivity (cortisol reactivity) and shyness, and the lowest physiological regulation (i.e., respiratory sinus arrythmia suppression). High and increasing avoidance may therefore be associated with temperamental and physiological indices of risk implicated in maladjustment and highlight the value of data-driven, group-based approaches for examining dynamic patterns of behavior.