Understanding shyness and psychosocial difficulties during early adolescence: The role of friend shyness and self-silencing

Shyness is a known personality risk factor for psychosocial difficulties during early adolescence, but little is known about sources of heterogeneity in these outcomes and potential mediating mechanisms. This study investigated whether adolescents' own and their friends' levels of shyness are associated uniquely with psychosocial difficulties (anxiety, depressive symptoms, loneliness, friend support), and whether self-silencing (within friendships) is a mediator of the relations between shyness and these difficulties. Participants were 178 young adolescents (54 % female; M_age = 13.71 years), in 89 unique best friend dyads, who completed self-report measures. Actor-partner interdependence mediation models showed both actor and partner effects of shyness on depressive symptoms, and that actor self-silencing mediated the associations between shyness and anxiety and friendship support. Findings are novel and highlight the importance of the dyad in studies of friendship and shyness during adolescence. They also point to self-silencing as a potential mediating mechanism of influence between shyness and intra- and interpersonal adjustment difficulties.