Andi
08-01-05, 12:25 AM
Monday, June 27, 2005
Shy kids, parents linked
By BETH QUIMBY, Portland Press Herald Writer
When a tall figure wearing a scary mask entered the playroom in Brunswick, toddler Benjamin Baumgarte took a long look and let out a blood-curdling scream.
When it was Logan Scott's turn, the toddler asked if he could try the mask on, too.
Now 4, the boys' different reactions were being carefully monitored by a team of researchers taking part in one of two studies in Maine on the origins of shyness in children.
The studies, one at Bowdoin College and the other at the University of Maine at Orono, are looking at the relationships between shy children and their parents. The goal is to shed more light on what makes some people bold and others socially anxious, and help treat people with extreme forms of shyness, or social anxiety disorder.
Bethany Sallinen, a doctoral student who headed the UMaine study, studied extremely shy children ages 8 to 12 and their parents.
It was difficult to find 15 children for the study, and Sallinen eventually turned to Maine Medical Center in Portland, MaineGeneral Medical Center in Waterville and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor to help find her subjects. She balanced them against 15 non-shy children and parents, to see if the child and parent interactions triggered and maintained social anxiety.
The researchers videotaped parent and child playing a game. They also videotaped the parent verbally instructing a child how to build a house with interlocking plastic building blocks.
Sallinen is still examining the results, but she has already found no differences between the parent and child interaction during a fun activity. But during the stressful activity, parents of non-shy children spoke more than the parents of shy children, and exhibited more positive responses such as laughter or a pat on the shoulder. The parents of shy children talked less, frowned more and did not smile.
"Children who were not anxious appeared to be having a better time," said Sallinen, who is interning in pediatric psychology at the University of Florida at Gainesville. "The children who were anxious were not having a good time."
Shyness is fairly common in children. When faced with a new situation such as a new preschool or classroom teacher, many children will be hesitant at first; however, their shyness will wear off in several days or a week.
Extreme shyness, or social anxiety, interferes with everyday functioning. It is recognized as a disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The socially anxious believe the world is watching them and often have negative thought patterns. They believe people are judging them or if they make a mistake they are bad. People with social anxiety tend to marry later in life, have problems with dating and have less academic success and more depression. It also runs in families.
At school, it often goes undiagnosed because extremely shy children display no obvious behavior problems. But the disorder can interfere with a child's academic performance, making it difficult to answer questions aloud, give an oral report, work on group projects or enjoy recess or lunch.
"Most kids have fun with recess, but kids with social anxiety disorder dread it," Sallinen said.
STYLE SEEN IN INFANCY
The study at Bowdoin College followed 104 children from across southern Maine from 18 months to 3 years of age.
Samuel Putnam, assistant professor of psychology, has been researching toddler temperament since his graduate-student days. In his latest project, he and his students looked at how the children responded to a variety of experiences at six-month intervals to measure how much children reach out or withdraw from new situations.
"How much do they enjoy low-intensity activities or do they go down a slide head-first," Putnam said.
Putnam says a child's shy or bold temperament begins to emerge in infancy. Some babies will react to a drop of lemon juice on their tongues with writhing and wails, while others show no reaction.
Putnam's research is trying to determine how much of a person's temperament is determined by nature and how much by nurture - a question that has been debated since the ancient Greeks.
Initially the children in the study were subjected to a battery of tasks designed to assess their temperaments. Researchers studied their reactions to fun, energetic games with a bubble gun, or the appearance of the figure in a scary mask. They studied how well the toddlers obeyed adult commands to stay away from a pile of enticing toys once the adults were out of sight.
At 24 months of age, 75 percent of the children touched the toys. A year later, when the children were 3 years old, only 20 percent did.
ADVICE ON DISCIPLINE
Karen Topp, the mother of Benjamin who screamed at the sight of the scary mask, says the study gave her new insight into her son. For example, she learned her son listens very carefully. He was one of the few children who did not touch the forbidden toys.
"I was really proud of him," said Topp, who believes that had the study taken place at home, with her 6-year-old daughter, Julia, and her husband, Thomas Baumgarte, present, her son may not have been as shy.
Amber Scott, mother of Logan, who showed no fright, says the study confirmed her hunch that she was the mother of a bold child. Bold children, she says, may be exuberant, but do not consider the risks. Logan climbs onto stove tops and trusts everyone and wants to be everybody's friend, she says.
"He is gung ho about everything, so I have to keep an extra eye on him," she said.
Putnam says there is a link between parental techniques and morality in shy children. Shy children react best to gentle discipline, not assertive discipline such as spanking or yelling. He says shy children whose parents severely discipline them for cheating will go on to cheat more at games than shy children who were gently disciplined for cheating, because shy children become over-aroused while being severely disciplined and tune out the message.
Gentle or assertive discipline makes no difference to bold children, who respond best to rewards rather than punishment, he says.
"So develop a close and playful relationship because they are really worried about losing that fun," he said.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050627shyness.shtmlb
Shy kids, parents linked
By BETH QUIMBY, Portland Press Herald Writer
When a tall figure wearing a scary mask entered the playroom in Brunswick, toddler Benjamin Baumgarte took a long look and let out a blood-curdling scream.
When it was Logan Scott's turn, the toddler asked if he could try the mask on, too.
Now 4, the boys' different reactions were being carefully monitored by a team of researchers taking part in one of two studies in Maine on the origins of shyness in children.
The studies, one at Bowdoin College and the other at the University of Maine at Orono, are looking at the relationships between shy children and their parents. The goal is to shed more light on what makes some people bold and others socially anxious, and help treat people with extreme forms of shyness, or social anxiety disorder.
Bethany Sallinen, a doctoral student who headed the UMaine study, studied extremely shy children ages 8 to 12 and their parents.
It was difficult to find 15 children for the study, and Sallinen eventually turned to Maine Medical Center in Portland, MaineGeneral Medical Center in Waterville and Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor to help find her subjects. She balanced them against 15 non-shy children and parents, to see if the child and parent interactions triggered and maintained social anxiety.
The researchers videotaped parent and child playing a game. They also videotaped the parent verbally instructing a child how to build a house with interlocking plastic building blocks.
Sallinen is still examining the results, but she has already found no differences between the parent and child interaction during a fun activity. But during the stressful activity, parents of non-shy children spoke more than the parents of shy children, and exhibited more positive responses such as laughter or a pat on the shoulder. The parents of shy children talked less, frowned more and did not smile.
"Children who were not anxious appeared to be having a better time," said Sallinen, who is interning in pediatric psychology at the University of Florida at Gainesville. "The children who were anxious were not having a good time."
Shyness is fairly common in children. When faced with a new situation such as a new preschool or classroom teacher, many children will be hesitant at first; however, their shyness will wear off in several days or a week.
Extreme shyness, or social anxiety, interferes with everyday functioning. It is recognized as a disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The socially anxious believe the world is watching them and often have negative thought patterns. They believe people are judging them or if they make a mistake they are bad. People with social anxiety tend to marry later in life, have problems with dating and have less academic success and more depression. It also runs in families.
At school, it often goes undiagnosed because extremely shy children display no obvious behavior problems. But the disorder can interfere with a child's academic performance, making it difficult to answer questions aloud, give an oral report, work on group projects or enjoy recess or lunch.
"Most kids have fun with recess, but kids with social anxiety disorder dread it," Sallinen said.
STYLE SEEN IN INFANCY
The study at Bowdoin College followed 104 children from across southern Maine from 18 months to 3 years of age.
Samuel Putnam, assistant professor of psychology, has been researching toddler temperament since his graduate-student days. In his latest project, he and his students looked at how the children responded to a variety of experiences at six-month intervals to measure how much children reach out or withdraw from new situations.
"How much do they enjoy low-intensity activities or do they go down a slide head-first," Putnam said.
Putnam says a child's shy or bold temperament begins to emerge in infancy. Some babies will react to a drop of lemon juice on their tongues with writhing and wails, while others show no reaction.
Putnam's research is trying to determine how much of a person's temperament is determined by nature and how much by nurture - a question that has been debated since the ancient Greeks.
Initially the children in the study were subjected to a battery of tasks designed to assess their temperaments. Researchers studied their reactions to fun, energetic games with a bubble gun, or the appearance of the figure in a scary mask. They studied how well the toddlers obeyed adult commands to stay away from a pile of enticing toys once the adults were out of sight.
At 24 months of age, 75 percent of the children touched the toys. A year later, when the children were 3 years old, only 20 percent did.
ADVICE ON DISCIPLINE
Karen Topp, the mother of Benjamin who screamed at the sight of the scary mask, says the study gave her new insight into her son. For example, she learned her son listens very carefully. He was one of the few children who did not touch the forbidden toys.
"I was really proud of him," said Topp, who believes that had the study taken place at home, with her 6-year-old daughter, Julia, and her husband, Thomas Baumgarte, present, her son may not have been as shy.
Amber Scott, mother of Logan, who showed no fright, says the study confirmed her hunch that she was the mother of a bold child. Bold children, she says, may be exuberant, but do not consider the risks. Logan climbs onto stove tops and trusts everyone and wants to be everybody's friend, she says.
"He is gung ho about everything, so I have to keep an extra eye on him," she said.
Putnam says there is a link between parental techniques and morality in shy children. Shy children react best to gentle discipline, not assertive discipline such as spanking or yelling. He says shy children whose parents severely discipline them for cheating will go on to cheat more at games than shy children who were gently disciplined for cheating, because shy children become over-aroused while being severely disciplined and tune out the message.
Gentle or assertive discipline makes no difference to bold children, who respond best to rewards rather than punishment, he says.
"So develop a close and playful relationship because they are really worried about losing that fun," he said.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050627shyness.shtmlb