Department of Psychology, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China.
School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
J Youth Adolesc. 2021 Oct;50(10):2108-2121. doi: 10.1007/s10964-021-01415-1. Epub 2021 Mar 11.
Few studies have been conducted to examine the role shyness plays in friendship selection and influences processes, particularly how befriending shy peers affects individual's psychological adjustment. To address these gaps, this study investigated the selection, de-selection, same behavior influence effects of shyness in the friendship network in Chinese adolescents using the longitudinal social network analysis. It also explored the possible pathways that transmit indirect influences of friends' shyness to individual's psychological maladjustments (i.e., loneliness and depressive symptoms). A sample of adolescents (N = 1254, 48.4% girls, M = 13.20 years at Time 1) were followed for three years in middle schools. The results showed that adolescents tended to befriend those who had similar shyness level during T1-T2 interval, but the friendships between shy friends were more likely to terminate during T2-T3 interval. Moreover, adolescents were found to become more similar with their friends in shyness over time. The study also found that friends' shyness at T1 would influence individual's loneliness at T3 via 1) increasing friends' loneliness at T2 or 2) increasing individual's shyness level at T2. Those two pathways, however, were not found for depressive symptoms. These findings indicate that shyness plays an important role in the friendship formation and dissolution and befriending shy peers may have implications for adolescents' development of shyness and loneliness.
鲜有研究考察害羞在友谊选择和影响过程中所扮演的角色，特别是与害羞的同伴成为朋友如何影响个体的心理调整。为了解决这些空白，本研究采用纵向社会网络分析，考察了中国青少年友谊网络中害羞的选择、去选择、相同行为影响效应。本研究还探讨了朋友的害羞对个体心理失调（即孤独感和抑郁症状）的间接影响的可能途径。一项对青少年（N=1254，48.4%为女生，T1 时的平均年龄为 13.20 岁）的三年随访研究表明，青少年在 T1-T2 期间倾向于与具有相似害羞水平的人成为朋友，但在 T2-T3 期间，害羞朋友之间的友谊更有可能结束。此外，随着时间的推移，青少年与朋友的害羞程度变得更加相似。研究还发现，朋友在 T1 时的害羞会通过以下两种途径影响个体在 T3 时的孤独感：1）增加朋友在 T2 时的孤独感；2）增加个体在 T2 时的害羞水平。然而，这两种途径在抑郁症状中都没有发现。这些发现表明，害羞在友谊的形成和破裂中起着重要的作用，与害羞的同伴成为朋友可能会对青少年害羞和孤独感的发展产生影响。
