Shyness and social adjustment in Chinese college students: A moderated mediation of alienation and school connectedness

Abstract

Existing studies have explored the relationship between shyness and specific indicators of social adjustment of children or middle school students, indicating that individuals with shyness have social maladjustment. However, few studies have examined the overall social adjustment and underlying mechanisms of college students. Therefore, the present study explored the influence of shyness on the overall social adjustment of college students and its underlying mechanism from the perspective of individuals’ interaction with their environment. 1201 participants (Mage = 19.43, SD = 1.40) from two universities in China were measured using the College Student Shyness Scale, Adolescent Alienation Scale, School Connectedness Scale, and Chinese College Student Adjustment Scale. The results showed that shyness was negatively associated with social adjustment and that alienation partially mediated the relationship between them. Moreover, this mediation effect was moderated by school connectedness. Specifically, school connectedness moderated the second stage of the mediating process, that is, school connectedness could effectively alleviate the social maladjustment caused by alienation, and the protection effect of this moderation on low alienation was more obvious. These findings enrich the research on social adjustment of college students, and show that reducing alienation and strengthening school connectedness can alleviate the maladjustment of shy college students.