The Development of Shyness from Late Childhood to Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study of Mexican-origin Youth.

Shyness, the tendency to be inhibited and uncomfortable in novel social situations, is a consequential personality trait, especially during adolescence. The present study examined the development of shyness from late childhood (age 10) through adolescence (age 16) using data from a large, longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth ( = 674). Using both self- and mother-reports of shyness assessed via the , we found moderate to high rank-order stabilities across two-year intervals and a mean-level decrease in shyness from age 10 to 16.