The Association between Parent and Adult Child Shyness, Social Skills, and Perceived Family Communication

This investigation examined how parents' and adult children's behavioral manifestations of shyness are associated with perceived family communication. A theoretical model predicted that shyness would be negatively associated with social skills, and socials skills would, in turn, be positively associated with perceived family communication. Participants included 111 parent-adult child dyads. Parents and adult children completed measures of shyness, social skills, and perceived family communication in an online questionnaire. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that, as predicted, parent and adult child shyness were negatively associated with their own social skills. In addition, adult children's social skills were significantly associated with perceived family communication, but their parents' social skills were not.