Measuring Childhood Traits

Weinberger (1997) reported results from a sample (n = 1,486) of youth, young adults, and adults regarding their social-emotional adjustment and correlates to childhood distress and self-restraint. Included in the childhood measure was levels of self-esteem. Findings showed coefficient alpha ranging from .85 to .95, showing that levels of self-esteem and other variables were consistent across age. Thus those who suffered from distress childhood also suffered from the same distress in adulthood.

Bruno (1998) stated that shyness leads to shyness. A troubled person tends to be distressed in the presence of others and avoidance of others relieves anxiety. Thus the shy behavior is reinforced and becomes a habit. The author also stated that interpersonal factors are found to have a role in chronic shyness. For example those who are found to efface themselves, lack assertiveness skills. These people do not know how to stand up for their rights or themselves in interpersonal contexts and therefore tend to find themselves avoiding o

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d as an overall score for each subject. Subjects also answered the following single question to determine levels of child-hood self-esteem: "As a child were you usually willing to stand up for your rights and opinions?" Answers were chosen from "high," "medium," and "low" categories. Numbers of each category were summed for totals. The validity of this question was derived from the research by Bruno (1998) who reported that people who lack assertiveness skills do not tend to stand up for themselves or their rights. Administration The sample for this study consisted of 200 subjects that were interviewed at church, shopping centers, and the work place. Subjects answered the survey instruments regarding adult shyness and childhood self-esteem. Since subjects were from a volunteer convenience sample, they were not randomly selected which may limit findings. Results The results were hand tabulated and are summarized in Table 1. Chi square analysis comparing the expected and observed frequencies of adult shyness and childhood low self-esteem demonstrated with 4 df, a chi square of .924 not significant at p = .05. Table 1: Adult Shyness & Childhood Low Self-Esteem Adult Shyness Y U N T ________________
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Adult Shyness, Shyness Scale, Beidel Calhoun, Response Comments, Putnam Haynes, - -, Interpretation Results, Theory DET, - - -, - =, Abnormal Psychology, - - =, _____ _____, adult shyness, R-1C-1=4 Chi, sq =, 200 200, , low self-esteem, chi square, _____ _____ _____, childhood low self-esteem, childhood low, shyness childhood, adult shyness childhood,
Approximate Word count = 1281
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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