Self-perception of shyness and its relation to aspects of public speaking

To determine the prevalence of shyness in university students and to analyze among the sociodemographic and public communication factors, those that are most related to their presence.

A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out with 1124 university students aged between 17 and 63 years old. It was used a questionnaire with questions related to sociodemographic characteristics; frequency of participation in public speaking activities; self-report of fear of speaking; self-perception of non-verbal aspects of oral communication: tone of voice, speed of speech, voice intensity, vocal projection, eye contact with the audience during the speech, use hands in public presentations; self-assessment of public speaking (Scale for Self-Assessment in Public Speaking) and self-perception of shyness (Revised Shyness Scale). The analysis of factors associated with shyness and with the other variables was performed by Pearson's chi-square test and univariate and multivariate logistic regression. The level of significance adopted was 5%.

The majority of the university population self-reported traces of shyness and fear of speaking in public. There was an association of shyness with the age of 17 to 30 years, fear of speaking in public, little participation in public speaking activities, negative self-perception of speech and with non-verbal communication aspects.

Shyness is prevalent in young university students, who participate in few public speaking activities, who are afraid to speak in public, self-report speaking at low intensity and who are unable to use their hands naturally during public presentations.