Poster #29 - Latent Profiles of Shyness, Effortful Control, and Psychosocial Adjustment in Chinese Preschoolers

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine temperamental shyness and its relation to effortful control and psychosocial adjustment in Chinese preschoolers. Previous studies have shown that childhood shyness manifests in various forms that are associated with diverse developmental outcomes. However, many of these previous studies have focused on Western populations; the current study will address this gap by examining how temperamental shyness and its correlates develop in a non-Western context where cultural norms and societal expectations may vary. Person-centered statistical techniques, such as latent class analysis or latent profile analysis, provide important insight regarding different patterns of symptomology for a given population. These methodological approaches can be used to group individuals based on their pattern of symptoms, resulting in common profiles that may be more homogenous than diagnostic groups. As such, the current study aims to identify latent sub-groups of youth based on their teacher-reported levels of shyness, effortful control, and a variety of psychosocial outcomes (e.g., peer exclusion).

The current study utilized archival data collected from a sample of preschoolers from Yinchuan, Ningxia, China. We conducted latent profile analysis using subscale scores based on teacher responses (n = 204) on the Child Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001), a measure of children’s temperamental shyness and effortful control, and on the Child Behavior Scale (CBS; Ladd & Profilet, 1996), a measure of children’s psychosocial adjustment. We examined potential profile structures and ultimately selected the four-profile model based on superior fit indices (e.g., entropy = 0.87, LMR test p < .05 compared to three-profile model) and clearer interpretability when compared to other profile options. The four profiles were labeled as: High Effortful Control with Low Adjustment Problems (50.8% of the sample), Low Effortful Control with Average Adjustment Problems (20.9%), Low Effortful Control with Elevated Adjustment Problems (18.8%), High Shyness with Elevated Adjustment Problems (9.4%). These findings will help explain how temperamental shyness, effortful control, and psychosocial adjustment are related for Chinese preschoolers. Specifically, results appear to indicate that greater effortful control abilities may act as a protective factor for children who are shy. Future research could examine potential resiliency factors to further elucidate why some children with lower effortful control abilities experience a greater degree of adjustment problems.

Authors

• Taylor Stacy, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
  Presenting Author

• Holly Rae Turner, University of Hawaii at Manoa

• Yiyuan Xu, University of Hawaii at Manoa