The Mediating and Moderating Effects of Teacher Preference on the Relations between Students’ Social Behaviors and Peer Acceptance

Tested on a sample of 1,365 Hong Kong primary school students from five grades, teacher preference or the extent to which the classroom teacher likes a child in the class was found to both mediate and, to a lesser extent, moderate the relations between children’s social behaviors and peer acceptance across age groups. The mediating effect suggests that peer acceptance responds not only to the behavior of a student but also to how much the classroom teacher likes or dislikes the student. The moderating effect suggests that the associations between student social behaviors and peer acceptance differ as functions of teacher preference. The mediating teacher preference was stronger with younger children, whereas a stronger moderating teacher preference was found for the older children. These findings confirm the supposition that three social processes involving the teacher, children, and peers contribute to children’s social status and relations in the classroom

Chinese Children’s Conceptions of Shyness: A Prototype Approach

Three studies were conducted to explore Chinese children’s understanding of shyness. In Study 1 (N = 174, M age = 10.18) interviews with Chinese children revealed a group of diverse attributes that characterized their conceptions of shyness. In Study 2 (N = 273, M age = 10.19) a rating procedure was used to identify attributes that were prototypical of a Chinese shy child. Study 3 (N = 216, M age = 10.24) explored the typology and dimensions underlying Chinese children’s descriptions of a shy child by asking them to compare and rate the similarity of shyness attributes derived in Study 1 and Study 2. The findings suggest that there are both cultural similarities and variations in children’s conceptions of shyness

Moving Away or Fitting In? Understanding Shyness in Chinese Children

This paper reports on three studies of shy behavior in Mainland Chinese children. In Study 1 (N = 107, M age = 10.05), a Chinese Shyness Scale (CSS) was developed based on Chinese teachers’ open-ended descriptions of children’s shy behavior. In Study 2 (N = 388, M age = 10.80) and Study 3 (N = 198, M age = 10.20), the construct validity of the two forms of shyness that emerged in Study 1 (i.e., anxious shyness and regulated shyness) were examined in relation to children’s social preference, temperament, and psychosocial adjustment. A distinct pattern of results was found for anxious shyness and regulated shyness. The findings highlight the role of culture in shaping expression of children’s shy behavior