Shy adolescents' perceptions of parental overcontrol and emotional coldness : examining bidirectional links

Two kinds of parental behaviors—overcontrol and emotional coldness—have been linked with children’s shy behaviors. The questions we addressed are whether this applies to adolescent shyness, and whether shyness in itself might also affect parental behaviors. The participants were 916 7th-9th graders in a longitudinal project. We used a cross-lagged path model with three time points. Shyness predicted an increase in feeling overly controlled by parents at Time 2, which then predicted an increase in shyness at Time 3. Shyness also predicted an increase in perceived coldness-rejection by parents at Time 2. Finally, shyness predicted decreases in parental warmth at both timepoints. The effects did not differ for boys and girls. These results show that adolescent shyness predicts parental behaviors, though perhaps less strongly than in childhood. They also suggest some bidirectional effects in which parental responses to shy youths might serve to strengthen the shyness.