Shyness and Socio-Emotional Adjustment in Early Childhood in Mainland China: Exploring the Roles of Maternal Parenting Practices and Beliefs about Shyness

The present study explored a complex model of the interplay between child shyness, maternal parenting practices, and parental beliefs about shyness in the prediction of indices of kindergarten socio-emotional functioning in mainland China. Participants were N = 883 children attending four kindergartens in Henan province (N = 373, Mage = 3.7 years, SD = 0.66 years; 51.6% boys) and eight kindergartens in Shanghai (N = 510, Mage = 4.4 years, SD = 0.91 years; 54.5% boys), People’s Republic of China. Multi-source assessments were employed, with mothers rating child shyness, as well as their own parenting practices and beliefs about shyness, and teachers assessing children’s socio-emotional adjustment in kindergarten. Results indicated that child shyness was indirectly associated with social-emotional difficulties via a mediated pathway through less adaptive parenting. Moreover, positive maternal beliefs about shyness served as a protective factor by reducing the magnitude of associations between child shyness and maladaptive parenting, as well as strengthening associations between child shyness and adaptive parenting. The findings underscore the importance of considering the meaning and implication of maternal beliefs about shyness and parenting in Chinese culture.