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Generational Trends in Children's Shyness: Does COVID-19 Matter?
Louis A Schmidt1, Christina A Brook2, Raha Hassan3
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4K1, Canada. schmidtl@mcmaster.ca.
Child Psychiatry and Human Development
|June 26, 2025
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Early childhood shyness predicts later internalizing problems.
- Socio-cultural and historical factors influencing childhood shyness are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine generational and period differences in children's shyness.
- To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on childhood shyness.
Main Methods:
- Quasi-experimental design using three cohorts (N=648) of children at similar ages.
- Parent-reported shyness data collected from Generation Z (1999-2000) and Generation Alpha (pre-pandemic 2018-2019 and mid-pandemic 2021).
- Behavioral shyness measures used on a subset of children pre-pandemic.
Main Results:
- Generation Alpha cohorts showed lower shyness than Generation Z, regardless of pandemic-related social restrictions.
- No significant difference in shyness levels between pre-pandemic and mid-pandemic Generation Alpha cohorts.
- Behavioral data corroborated parent reports, showing lower shyness in Generation Alpha compared to Generation Z.
Conclusions:
- Generational differences in childhood shyness appear influenced by long-term socio-cultural factors rather than acute events like the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Children's shyness levels may be decreasing across generations.
- The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly increase shyness in Generation Alpha children.
Keywords:
COVID-19 pandemicChildren’s shynessGenerational differencesMeasurement invariancePersonality developmentSocio-cultural influencesMore Related Videos
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