Abstract: This study aims to investigate the association between Chinese adolescents’ shyness and peer victimization as well as to explore the moderating role of self-construals and gender in this relation. Shyness, as a subtype of social withdrawal, refers to anxious reactivity in response to real or imagined social situations. According to the contextual-developmental perspective, cultural beliefs and values not only affect shy adolescents’ attitudes and behaviors, but also affect the reactions of adults and peers to their behaviors. On the other hand, in cultures where shyness is viewed as positive and harmonious, adolescents who are shy and sensitive may receive social support and build self-confidence to deal with social situations, which in turn helps them avoid peer exclusion or victimization. In contrast, in cultures where shyness is viewed as negative and maladaptive, shy adolescents may receive negative social evaluations and responses, which in turn enhances the level of peer relationship problems. Therefore, it is reasonable to deduce that shyness is positively associated with adolescents’ peer relationship problems in the current Chinese society. However, empirical findings have indicated that shy adolescents’ peer relationship problems vary across cultures, regions or time periods. For instance, shyness is more strongly related to peer relationship problems in today’s Chinese society than in the 1990s. In addition, shy adolescents perceive more peer relationship problems in the urban context than rural context. The inconsistency among these results may be explained by the awakening of adolescents’ autonomy, which is considered as a main mark of adolescence. The ecological systems theory proposes that adolescents’ development can be influenced by culture-related personality traits (e.g., self-construals). In support of the viewpoint, A recent study has found that adolescents’ collectivism weakens the relation between shyness and depressive symptoms whereas individualism strengthens the link between shyness and depressive symptoms, which assumes that the relationship between shyness and peer relationship problems is moderated by self-construals. According to the gender role stereotype theory, boys are expected by adults and peers to display more assertive and autonomous behaviors in social interactions. Thus, shy boys may experience greater pressure than girls, which assumes that the relationship between shyness and peer relationship problems is moderated by gender. A total of 1036 Chinese adolescents (52% male; Mage = 12.97, SD = .76) filled out questionnaires regarding social withdrawal (including shyness, social avoidance and unsociability), peer victimization, self-construals, and family socioeconomic status. The results indicated that: (1) adolescents’ shyness was positively related to peer victimization; (2) the effect of shyness on peer victimization was moderated by self-construals. To be specific, the effect of shyness on peer victimization was positive and significant for adolescents who are high on independent self-construal or low on interdependent self-construal. However, this effect was non-significant for adolescents who are low on independent self-construal or high on interdependent self-construal; (3) The moderating effect of gender was non-significant. This was presumably because other influencing factors (e.g. aggression) obscured the moderating effect of gender. These results suggested that cultural orientations in person level may influence shy adolescents’ perceived peer victimization, and indicated that the culture-related personality traits need to be considered comprehensively for understanding and improving shy adolescents’ psychological adjustment in China.

Key words: shyness, peer victimization, self-construals, gender, social withdrawal

摘要： 本研究的主要目的是考察羞怯对同伴侵害的影响及潜在机制。1036名青少年(52%是男孩; M = 12.97 岁, SD = .76)完成了自评问卷。结果发现：(1)羞怯显著地正向预测青少年的同伴侵害；(2)自我建构调节了这一关系，依存型自我建构对羞怯个体的同伴问题具有保护作用，而独立型自我建构具有破坏作用；(3)性别对这一关系的调节作用并不显著。这些发现强调了在羞怯的适应功能研究中考虑文化的个人层面因素的重要性。

关键词: 羞怯, 同伴侵害, 自我建构, 性别, 社交退缩