LAUSR

Shyness in childhood and adolescence is associated with problems in social, academic, and psychological adjustment in today’s China. However, the functional meaning of shyness needs to be examined in the developmental context. This 1 year longitudinal study explored the relations between self-reported shyness and indexes of adjustment in Chinese children and adolescents. The participants included 2,308 students in China, with 1,062 initially in the fifth grade (Mage = 11.50 years, 539 boys) in elementary schools and 1,246 initially in the eighth grade (Mage = 14.27 years, 641 boys) in middle schools. Shyness was assessed using a self-report measure, and data on social and school adjustment were obtained from multiple sources. Among the results, shyness was negatively associated with later academic performance and positively associated with later behavioral problems and peer victimization in childhood. For adolescents, whereas shyness was not significantly associated with academic performance or behavioral problems, it contributed to decreased peer victimization. The results indicate the importance of understanding shyness from a developmental perspective.