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Shyness, Parent–Child Relationships, and Peer Difficulties During the Middle School Transition

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Abstract

The goal of the present study was to explore the potential moderating role of quality of Parent–child relationships in the relations between child shyness and peer difficulties across the transition to middle school. Participants were 215 children attending public primary schools in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, who were followed from Grade 5 to Grade 6. Children reported on the quality of their relationships with mothers and fathers (conflict, support), while peer-nominations were used to assess shyness, peer rejection, and peer victimization. Among the results, shyness in Grade 5 was positively associated with peer rejection and peer victimization in Grade 6. The associations between shyness and peer relationship difficulties were stronger among Parent–child relationships characterized by higher levels of conflict and lower levels of support and attenuated among Parent–child relationships characterized by lower levels of conflict and higher levels of support. Gender differences were also found; parent support moderated the relations between shyness and peer difficulties, for girls, but not for boys. At lower levels of parent support, the association between shyness and peer difficulties among girls were stronger. Taken together, the findings offer evidence that the quality of Parent–child relationships function as a moderator, providing support for the Goodness-of-Fit model.

Highlights

  • Shyness was predictive of later peer rejection and peer victimization.

  • Parent–child relationships moderated the association between shyness and peer relationship difficulties.

  • The association between shyness and peer relationship difficulties during the transition to middle school was more prominent when the Parent–child relationship was characterized by higher levels of conflict and lower levels of support.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31971001), the Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science Project (18YJA190009) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2017ECNU-HWFW019, 2018ECNU-QKT015).

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  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Amanda Bullock & Junsheng Liu

  2. Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Bowen Xiao & Robert Coplan

  3. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Xinyin Chen

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Correspondence to Junsheng Liu.

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Bullock, A., Xiao, B., Liu, J. et al. Shyness, Parent–Child Relationships, and Peer Difficulties During the Middle School Transition. J Child Fam Stud 31, 86–98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-021-01979-3

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