Uno strumento per rilevare la timidezza nella preadolescenza: L'adattamento italiano della Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale

Theoretical background. Early-adolescence represents a period of great vulnerability for shy youth. At the same time, it is a developmental age which has received little attention in the shyness literature, particularly with regard to the perceptions that shy individuals have of themselves. This is due, in part, to a lack of self-report scales which can effectively measure shyness during this developmental period. In fact, shyness in early-adolescence is usually measured through hetero-evaluation instruments, such as peer nomination or scales addressed to parents or teachers. However, although the value of data obtained from peers and significant others has been recognized, an individuals’ own perceptions are of fundamental importance in understanding the level of psychological discomfort experienced. So, it appears there is a need for shyness self-report scales adapted to the adolescent developmental stage. From the available self-report instruments to measure shyness, we selected the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale (RCBS, Cheek, 1983) for adaption. Aims. The main focus of the present study was to prepare an Italian adaptation of this scale, which could be used with early-adolescents. Moreover, we also aimed to verify the instrument’s internal consistency and discriminant validity. Method. The Italian version of the RCBS and the anxious/depressed subscale of the Youth Self-Report Questionnaire (Achenbach, 1991), which was used as a discriminant validity measure, were administered to 502 participants: 250 early-adolescents, aged 11 to 13 (M = 12.35; DS = .67); and 252 adolescents, aged 17 to 19 (M = 17.71; DS = .66). Discussion and Conclusion. The results confirm the original factorial structure of the instrument and indicate that it has a good unidimensional factorial structure. Moreover, the indices of factorial invariance show that its structure is generalizable with respect to the group of early-adolescents, emphasizing that it is also able to measure, and adequate for assessing, shyness in this developmental age. The RCBS also showed good internal reliability and, lastly, it demonstrated a good capacity to discriminate between two independent construct correlates. On the whole, the RCBS is also an appropriate self-report scale for measuring shyness in Italian samples and it also allows measurement of this construct in early-adolescence. Therefore, from this point of view, we regard that this instrument permits thorough analysis of shyness, through the perceptions that adolescent respondents have of themselves during this critical developmental stage which has received little attention in the literature.