Shyness and anxiety: Protective role of extraversion

Abstract The present study examined the moderating role of extraversion in explaining the relation between shyness and anxiety in a non-clinical early adolescent sample (N = 119, nfemale = 75; Mage = 12.93 years, SDage = 2.23 years) and a clinical adult sample from an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic (N = 100, nfemale = 77; Mage = 34.97 years, SDage = 12.66 years). We found evidence for the protective role of relatively high levels of extraversion in both samples, such that shyness was positively associated with anxiety in the context of relatively low levels of extraversion. Our results provide support for the protective role of extraversion in the presence of high levels of shyness.