A Closer Examination of the Relation Between Child Shyness and Academic Performance in China

The purpose of the current study was to explore the relations between child shyness and academic achievement in China. Participants were 597 elementary school children aged 8 to 11 years who attended 5 randomly selected public elementary schools in Shanghai, China. Shyness was assessed by peer nomination and a newly translated self-report measure. Children also self-reported indices of their socio-emotional functioning. Academic achievement was assessed across domains and via multiple informants. Results revealed a number of significant associations between self-reported child shyness, socio-emotional functioning, and indices of academic achievement. The newly-developed self-report measure of shyness demonstrated good psychometric properties. Self-reported shyness was significantly negatively associated with all academic outcome variables. Further, academic achievement was found to significantly moderate the relation between shyness and peer rejection such that the relation between these two variables increased at lower levels of academic achievement and decreased at higher levels of academic achievement.