Students' shyness and affective teacher-student relationships in upper elementary schools: A cross-cultural comparison

Students' shyness was found to harm teacher-student relationship quality in Western contexts, whereas less is known about how shyness is associated with teacher-student relationships in Eastern contexts. The present study therefore examined cultural differences in the association between students' shyness and affective teacher–student relationships between the Netherlands and China. The Dutch sample included 789 third to sixth grade students and 35 teachers, and the Chinese sample consisted of 587 third to sixth graders and 14 teachers. Students reported their own levels of shyness and both teachers and students reported the quality of their mutual relationships. Multilevel regression analysis showed that shyness was associated with less student-reported closeness and more conflict in both countries; these associations were stronger in the Chinese than in the Dutch sample. In both countries, shyness was associated with less teacher-reported closeness but not with more conflict; no cultural difference was found in these associations. Possible explanations and implications are discussed.