Relationships between shyness and language development in a sample of preschool children in Saudi Arabia.

This thesis investigated the relationship between shyness and the language development of a sample of preschool children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The sample consisted of 108 preschool children enrolled in eight preschool centres in Riyadh City. The method was a comparative design involving shy and non-shy children (52 shy, 56 non-shy) ranging in age from 5 to 6 years old selected by their teachers. All the children were of Saudi nationality and in final year classes of preschool. All preschools were private, the socioeconomic status was homogeneous and from middle to upper class. The trait shyness of children was measured by means of a teachers' and parents' shyness checklist. Three measures were used to examine the language development of children: a standardized test of receptive vocabulary, a systematic measure of children's speech in two 'Show and Tell' sessions, and observation of children's verbal behaviour during two free play sessions. Shy children obtained lower scores in the vocabulary test and they were more reticent in these two school settings. Teachers' shyness scores predicted children's verbal behaviour in 'Show and Tell' and during free play sessions over and above any differences between shy and non-shy children in vocabulary test scores. Vocabulary scores did not mediate or moderate the relations between shyness and observed verbal behaviours in these sessions