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Personality Development Within a Generational Context: Life Course Outcomes of Shy Children

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Abstract

Studies have shown that shy children born in the 1920s and 1950s had delayed marriage and parenthood, less stable careers, and lower occupational attainment as adults than other children. Do these effects still hold true? We examined demographic and social outcomes of children born between 1977 and 1982 in a prospective longitudinal study. We assessed shyness in childhood (age 8), adolescence (age 12–16), young adulthood (age 22–26), and adulthood (age 30–35), and derived three shyness trajectories (i.e., decreasing, increasing, and low-stable). Social and demographic outcomes for shy children who outgrew their shyness (i.e., decreasing trajectory) were indistinguishable from those who were consistently low on shyness measures. However, a shyness trajectory beginning in adolescence and increasing to adulthood was associated with poorer outcomes, similar to previous studies. These findings highlight the importance of multiple assessments in long-term longitudinal studies and the need to consider personality development within a generational context.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Team Grant (TMH 103145) awarded to LAS. The authors would like to thank the many participants and their families for their continued participation in the longitudinal study and Nicole Folland, Paz Fortier, Sue McKee, Vladimir Miskovic, Jordana Waxman, Shiren Yunus for their help with data collection and organizing the assessment appointments. We thank Alison Niccols for her helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada

    Louis A. Schmidt, Alva Tang & Ayelet Lahat

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Kimberly L. Day, Michael H. Boyle & Ryan J. Van Lieshout

  3. Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada

    Saroj Saigal

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  1. Louis A. Schmidt
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Correspondence to Louis A. Schmidt.

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Schmidt, L.A., Tang, A., Day, K.L. et al. Personality Development Within a Generational Context: Life Course Outcomes of Shy Children. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 48, 632–641 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-016-0691-y

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