A Study on Shyness in Korean Preschoolers

한국 아동의 수줍음에 관한 연구

The study was designed to examine the nature of shyness in children focused on the relationshiop between shyness in parents and children. The subjects were 80 triads including fathers, mothers, and their children aged 58.5 months on the average. The parents completed the questionnaire which included items about shyness and sociability devised by Cheek & Buss(1981) and the mothers also answered for their children. Identified by teachers, the children were divided into 4 groups based on both their sexes and a quality of shyness(shy/unshy). No sex differences were found throughout the study, so the analysis was made only by their quality of shyness. The main results were as follows: 1) 45% of the shy children had begun to show shyness ar 3~3$\frac{1}{2}$ and 41% of them showed it the most strongly at 4~5. 2) Birth order and educational experiences(an attendance period at the institutions) were not related to shyness in children. 3) The more and the stronger they experienced stranger anxiety, the more they showed shyness; Shyness and sociability in children were negatively related(r=-.45) each other, implying that they are likely to be distinct traits. 4) Shyness in children was positively related to shyness in their parents regardless of their sexes, and negatively related to sociability in their mothers. 5) Most of the mothers had negative reactions on shyness in their children and wished them not to be shy.