Schmidt Louis A, Brook Christina A, Hassan Raha, Kong Xiaoxue, MacGowan Taigan L, Poole Kristie L, Theall Laura A, Jetha Michelle K
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2025 Jun 27. doi: 10.1007/s10578-025-01862-y.
Although early childhood shyness is known to portend later internalizing-related problems, we know relatively little about how broad socio-cultural and socio-historical factors shape children's shyness. In this study, we leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic as a quasi-experiment to examine generational and period differences in parent-reported children's shyness at the same age in three separate cohorts (N = 648): Generation Z (tested: 1999-2000, n = 217, M = 4.43 years), Generation Alpha: pre-pandemic (tested: 2018-2019, n = 217, M = 4.76 years) and mid-pandemic (tested: 2021, n = 214, M = 4.47 years). The two Generation Alpha groups did not differ on shyness levels despite the pandemic-related social restrictions, and both Generation Alpha cohorts had unexpectedly relatively lower parent-reported shyness levels today compared with Generation Z assessed approximately twenty years ago. Observed behavioral measures of shyness collected prior to the pandemic on a subset of children also revealed lower levels of shyness in Generation Alpha pre-pandemic compared with Generation Z, converging with parent-reported findings of shyness. Findings suggest that generational differences in children's shyness may result from more protracted socio-cultural influences than from acute period effects such as COVID-19 lockdowns.
虽然已知儿童早期的害羞预示着日后与内化相关的问题，但我们对广泛的社会文化和社会历史因素如何塑造儿童的害羞了解相对较少。在本研究中，我们利用新冠疫情作为一项准实验，来考察三个不同队列（N = 648）中父母报告的同年龄儿童害羞程度的代际差异和时期差异：Z世代（测试时间：1999 - 2000年，n = 217，M = 4.43岁）、阿尔法世代：疫情前（测试时间：2018 - 2019年，n = 217，M = 4.76岁）和疫情中期（测试时间：2021年，n = 214，M = 4.47岁）。尽管存在与疫情相关的社会限制，但两个阿尔法世代组在害羞程度上没有差异，而且与大约二十年前评估的Z世代相比，如今两个阿尔法世代队列中父母报告的害羞程度意外地相对较低。在疫情之前对一部分儿童收集的害羞行为观察指标也显示，疫情前阿尔法世代的害羞程度低于Z世代，这与父母报告的害羞程度结果一致。研究结果表明，儿童害羞的代际差异可能是由更持久的社会文化影响导致的，而非像新冠疫情封锁这样的短期影响。
