Temperamental shyness and children's communicative behaviours in a goal-oriented task: A dyadic perspective

Communicative abilities play a crucial role in children's social success and, for shyer children, protect against socio-emotional maladjustment. Despite communication being highly reciprocal, research on the dyadic influences of children's shyness on their own and their partner's communicative behaviours is limited. Addressing this gap, children (Mage = 10.07 years; N = 338) were paired with a same-sex and same-age, unfamiliar peer and completed two puzzle tasks wherein one child (“instructor”) could only see the puzzle, while the other child (“listener”) could only move the pieces. Children's communicative behaviours were observed, with children switching roles between trials. Shyer instructors verbalized fewer instructions and received less encouragement from listeners during puzzle one. During puzzle two, shyer instructors verbalized fewer instructions and received more responses from listeners, while shyer listeners verbalized less encouragement. Findings provide insight into how temperamental shyness influences interactions within a structured communicative setting.