Shyness and Inhibitory Control in Preschool Dyads: An Actor-Partner Model of Social Behavior

The risk potentiation model of cognitive control posits that inhibitory control heightens children's risk for problematic outcomes in the context of shyness because it limits shy children's ability to engage flexibly with their environment. Although there is empirical support for the risk potentiation model, most studies have been restricted to parent report of children's outcomes and do not consider the influence of shyness and inhibitory control on other children's social behavior. In the present study, we used an actor-partner interdependence model to examine whether shyness and inhibitory control at Time 1 (N = 105, 52 girls, M[subscript age] = 3.50 years; 87% White; M[subscript income] = between $75,000 and $100,000 in Canadian dollars) predicted children's own and their partner's observed social behavior with an unfamiliar peer at Time 2 (M[subscript age] = 4.76 years). When the child's own inhibitory control was high, the child's own shyness was negatively associated with their own approach behaviors but negatively associated with their partner's avoidance behaviors. However, when the child's own inhibitory control was low, the child's own shyness was unrelated to their own approach behaviors but positively associated with their partner's avoidance behaviors. Although inhibitory control was negatively associated with approach-related behavior for some shy children, this did not translate to more avoidance from the social partner. These results highlight the importance of examining the child's own behavior in addition to their partner's behavior when considering children's socioemotional development.