Published online July 1, 2008
PEDIATRICS Vol. 122 No. 1 July 2008, pp. e181-e187 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3747)

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ARTICLE

Shyness and Timidity in Young Adults Who Were Born at Extremely Low Birth Weight

Louis A. Schmidt, PhD^a, Vladimir Miskovic, BA^a, Michael H. Boyle, PhD^b and Saroj Saigal, MD^c

^a Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University and Neuroscience Program, McMaster Institute for Neuroscience Discovery and Study
^b Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences
^c Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

OBJECTIVE. Recent studies have noted personality differences among adult survivors of very preterm birth, including higher neuroticism and cautiousness and lower extraversion. We attempted to replicate and extend these recent studies by examining personality characteristics across multiple components of personality that traditionally define personality structure in a birth cohort of young adults born at extremely low birth weight (501–1000 g), the smallest and most at-risk infants.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS. We assessed 71 (76% of the original birth cohort) extremely low birth weight and 83 (74% of the original cohort) term normal birth weight young adults by using well-validated personality measures, indexing 4 traditional components of personality: temperament (Cheek and Buss shyness and sociability and Eysenck neuroticism and extraversion), motivation (Carver and White behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation), cognitive and affective (Coopersmith self-esteem and University of California, Los Angeles, loneliness), and socialization (Eysenck psychoticism and lie). All of the participants were right-handed and free of neurosensory and psychiatric impairments.

RESULTS. Extremely low birth weight adults reported significantly higher shyness, behavioral inhibition, and socialization (a measure of prosocial behavior defined by risk aversion and adherence to societal mores) and lower sociability and emotional well-being than their normal birth weight counterparts, replicating and extending the findings of previous studies.

CONCLUSIONS. Young adults who were born at extremely low birth weight and without major impairments are more cautious, shy, and risk aversive and less extraverted than their normal birth weight counterparts, possibly placing them at risk for future psychiatric and emotional problems.

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Key Words: extremely low birth weight • prematurity • personality • shyness • timidity • risk aversion • equifinality

Abbreviations: ELBW—extremely low birth weight • VLBW—very low birth weight • NBW—normal birth weight • VPT—very preterm • BIS—behavioral inhibition scale • BAS—behavioral activation scale • EPQ-RS—Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Form • R-UCLA—Revised-University of California, Los Angeles

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Accepted Feb 20, 2008.

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