Ricerc@Sapienza

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to examine the moderating role of inhibitory control (IC) in the associations between shyness and young children’s social and school adjustment. Participants were 112 Italian children (M = 56.85 months, SD = 10.14) enrolled in preschool. Parents and teachers assessed child shyness and IC as well as indices of social and school adjustment. Children were interviewed to assess vocabulary.

Although shy children have been described as less empathetic than their more sociable peers, this may be due to a performance rather than a competence deficit. The aim of this study was to explore the moderating role of shyness in the association between empathic feelings and empathic‐related reactions. Participants were 212 preschoolers (Mage = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72).

Background In recent years, researchers have begun to explore the implications of shyness for the psychosocial wellbeing of children and adolescents, exploring its association with internalizing problems. Research in an Italian context is hindered by the lack of a validated self-report measure of shyness. We report two studies aimed to assess the psychometric properties of an Italian translation of the Children’s Shyness Questionnaire (CSQ-it) and investigate its correlations with convergent and divergent constructs.

The aim of this study was to explore young children's perceptions, beliefs, and anticipated outcomes about different types of social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance). Participants were N = 212 children (n = 110 boys) aged 2.55–6.37 years (M = 4.86, SD = 0.89) recruited from three preschools and kindergartens in Italy.