PARENTING STYLES AND CHILDHOOD SHYNESS.

• Position: Socialization research - Brief Article

Parents who are worried about their shy child's ability to socialize, but are unsure how to react, can find help in a study by a team of researchers which included Larry J. Nelson, professor of marriage, family, and human development, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. They found that there is an explicit relationship between child behavior and parenting styles. "Parents really do have a great influence on the behavioral and social abilities of their children," Nelson points out.

The study supports previous research which shows that parents who are less likely to encourage independence of thought and/or deed in their offspring are also more likely to have socially inhibited and shy youngsters. "In the case of shyness, we found that parents' behavior was influenced by their...