Accepted Manuscript

Behavioral inhibition system and self-esteem as mediators between

shyness and social anxiety

Guangming Ran , Qi Zhang , Hao Huang

PII: S0165-1781(17)32332-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.10.017
Reference: PSY 11793

To appear in: Psychiatry Research

Please cite this article as: Guangming Ran , Qi Zhang , Hao Huang , Behavioral inhibition system
and self-esteem as mediators between shyness and social anxiety, Psychiatry Research (2018), doi:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.10.017

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Highlights:

 Shyness was positively associated with social anxiety.

 BIS was positively correlated with shyness and social anxiety while

self-esteem was negatively related to them.

 BIS and self-esteem partially mediated the association between shyness and

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social anxiety.

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Behavioral inhibition system and self-esteem as

mediators between shyness and social anxiety
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Guangming Ran *, Qi Zhangb, Hao Huanga

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a

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Department of Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong

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637002, China

b
College of Preschool and Primary Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002,

China
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*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Guangming Ran, Department of

Psychology, Institute of Education, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China
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Tel: +86 18381779508

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Fax: +86 817 2568335

E-mail address: haiqi49@cwnu.edu.cn

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Abstract Shyness has been demonstrated to be an important factor associating with social anxiety.

However, it is less clear on the mechanisms responsible for such association. The aim of the

present study was to examine whether behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and self-esteem

mediated the relationship between shyness and social anxiety. A sample of 521 healthy volunteers

in the age range of 18–25 years completed self-report measures of BIS, self-esteem, shyness and

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social anxiety. Our correlational analyses showed that shyness was positively associated with

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social anxiety, supporting the overlapping and continuum hypotheses. Furthermore, BIS was

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positively correlated with shyness and social anxiety while self-esteem was negatively related to

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them, indicating that BIS and self-esteem were different in the relation between shyness and social

anxiety. Importantly, results from structural equation modeling revealed that the relation between
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shyness and social anxiety was partially mediated by BIS and self-esteem, which suggested that
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they might play important roles in the relation between shyness and social anxiety.

Keywords: behavioral inhibition, self-esteem, shyness, social anxiety, avoidant behaviours

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1. Introduction
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Social anxiety can be described as being in a state of fear or embarrassment in social

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interactions (Harbort et al., 2013). Social anxiety problems typically begin in childhood or

adolescence, with a mean age of onset between 14 and 16 years (Iverach and Rapee, 2014). It may

develop into social anxiety disorder, which is one of the most common emotional disorders,

with a lifetime prevalence of 12% (Alden and Taylor, 2011). Individuals with social anxiety

disorder show abnormal social development and significant functional impairment (Dryman et al.,

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2016). Accordingly, exploring factors predicting and underlying social anxiety may contribute to

the behavioral treatment for social anxiety disorder.

1.1. Shyness and social anxiety

Shyness is defined as a personality trait characterizing an anxious preoccupation of the self in

response to real or imagined social situations (Beaton et al., 2013; Rudasill et al., 2014). The

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personality is considered to be an important factor associating with social anxiety (Yang et al.,

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2013). Although recent studies have observed significant correlations between shyness and social

anxiety scores (e.g., Tsui et al., 2016), there is still a debate about the specificity of the relation

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between these two constructs (Poole et al., 2017). Some researchers have suggested that shyness is
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distinct from social anxiety (e.g., Yang et al., 2013). There are differences in the definition,

conceptualization and measurement in the two constructs (Poole et al., 2017). Several other
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scholars, however, hold a different viewpoint (Kokin et al., 2016; Poole et al., 2017). In their one

hypothesis, shyness and social anxiety are not separate phenomena but rather overlapping
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conditions (Iancu et al., 2011). Their second hypothesis is that shyness and social anxiety exist on
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a continuum, suggesting that social anxiety may represent an extreme form of shyness (Kokin et
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al., 2016; Poole et al., 2017). Three viewpoints of the relation between shyness and social anxiety

(distinction, overlapping and continuum) are critical importance for the clarification for the
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underlying mechanism of these two constructs. The viewpoint of distinction suggests that there is

no correlations between shyness and social anxiety while remaining viewpoints implies that they

are relevant. The present study aims to test the viewpoint of overlapping and continuum.

1.2. Shyness, BIS, and social anxiety

Gray’s biological theory of personality (reinforcement sensitivity theory) postulates that the
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behavioural inhibition system (BIS) is a biological personality variable, which is activated in

response to signals of punishment and conditioned aversive stimuli, leading to behavioural

inhibition (Gray, 1987; Berger and Anaki, 2014). There is evidence that people with high levels

of BIS activity may show passive avoidant behaviours such as shyness of strangers (Brakel and

Muris, 2006). Theory on social withdrawal suggests a strong activity in the BIS underlie shyness

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(Bowker et al., 2017). This is consistent with views emerging from a study of shyness, suggesting

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that shyness may reflect inhibition in response to negative stimuli in social exchanges

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although it is related to a negative self-bias (Bruch et al., 1995).

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The Gray’s theory proposes that the activity of the BIS may result in some behaviours

associated with anxiety such as worry, rumination and social anxiety (Gray, 1987; Van der Linden
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et al., 2007). This viewpoint is supported by a number of previous studies arguing that the
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BIS activity is a risk factor for anxiety problems (Leve et al., 2005). An increasing number of

studies have explored the relation between BIS and social anxiety (Hagopian and Ollendick, 1994;
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Johnson et al., 2002). For example, Coplan et al., (2006) have found that BIS can predict social
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anxiety in children. Therefore, BIS may influence people’s social anxiety, which, considering

together with the results on shyness, suggests that it might mediate the relationship between
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shyness and social anxiety.

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1.3. Shyness, self-esteem, and social anxiety

Self-esteem is considered as self-assessments for the level of self-concepts and beliefs about

self-worth in a person’s life (Karatzias et al., 2002). High self-esteem is associated with positive

coping styles and high social support, while low self-esteem is related to a range of psychological

problems (Button et al., 1996; Dumont and Provost, 1999). Empirical studies of shyness have

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found that childhood shyness is associated with internalizing problems, such as loneliness,

depressive symptoms and low self-esteem (Chen et al., 2013; Coplan et al., 2017). Although

self-esteem and shyness are indexes of self-concept, there might be an inverse relationship

between them (Koydemir-Özden and Demir, 2009). More specifically, low self-esteem might be

negatively linked to shyness (Chan and Wong, 2013).

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A person’s social anxiety may be influenced by her/his self-esteem (Rapee and Heimberg,

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1997). According to cognitive models of social anxiety disorder, dysfunctional self-views are

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essential for the maintenance of the disorder in adolescents and adults. Therefore, some studies

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have examined negative self-views, and specifically self-esteem in socially anxious individuals

(Tanner et al., 2006; Schreiber et al., 2012). A significant negative correlation exists between
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self-esteem and social anxiety, which means that people who are low in social self-esteem may

experience social anxiety (Yousaf, 2015). In sum, people’s shyness may affect their social anxiety
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through self-esteem, which plays an intermediary role in the underlying influencing mechanism.
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1.4. The present study

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The main goal of the current study was to explore the relationships between shyness, social
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anxiety, BIS and self-esteem. Based on the above literature review, we proposed a hypothesized

structural model (Fig. 1). We hypothesized that there would be a significant positive correlation
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between shyness and social anxiety (Hypothesis 1). Moreover, we predicted that BIS would be

positively correlated with shyness and social anxiety while self-esteem would be negatively

related to them (Hypothesis 2). Finally, we expected that BIS and self-esteem would mediate the

association between shyness and social anxiety (Hypothesis 3).

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2. Method
2.1. Participants and procedures

A total of 521 volunteers were recruited randomly from six universities in four provinces of

China: Guangdong, Jilin, Chongqing and Sichuan. The participants were 18–25 years old (M =

20.41 years, SD = 1.79 years). There were 237 men and 284 women. Among them, 296

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participants majored in social sciences, while the remaining 225 studied nature sciences. They

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were predominantly of Han ethnicity.

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The study was approved by the local ethics committee and our procedure was carried out in

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accordance with the approved guidelines. All participants of this study gave written informed

consent. They completed a battery of questionnaires: the College Students’ Shyness Scale-Chinese
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Version (CSSS-C) (Han et al., 2017; Han et al., 2016)，the Behavioral Inhibition System
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Scale-Chinese Version (BISC) (Li et al., 2008), the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES)

(Rosenberg, 1986) and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Chinese Version(LSASC) (He and
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Zhang, 2004). Participants were asked to complete these questionnaires in twenty minutes.
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2.2. Measures
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2.2.1. Shyness

The levels of shyness were measured with the College Students’ Shyness Scale (CSSS)
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devised by Henderson and Zimbardo (2001). The Chinese version of such scale comprised 17

items (Han et al., 2017; Han et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2009), each of which was rated on a 5-point

scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). An example item was “I worry about being

immature in social situations.” The Chinese CSSS has showed good reliability and validity in the

investigations examining the college students’ shyness (Han et al., 2017; Han et al., 2016).

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Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the Chinese CSSS was 0.876 in the present study. CFA results

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showed that the Chinese CSSS fitted the data well (χ (87, N = 521) = 269.17 (p < 0.001), χ /df =

3.09; CFI = 0.921, TLI = 0.905; RMSEA = 0.063 (90% CI = 0.055–0.072); SRMR = 0.044).

2.2.2. Behavioral inhibition system

The activity of behavioral inhibition system was measured using the Behavioral Inhibition

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System Scale (BISC) (Berger and Anaki, 2014; Carver and White, 1994). The Behavioral

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Inhibition System Scale-Chinese Version (BISCC) had 5 items that were answered using a 4-point

scale, ranging from 1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree). An example item for this scale was

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“Criticism or scolding hurts me quite a bit.” The BISCC has been found to have acceptable
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reliability and validity in previous studies (Jiang and Zhao, 2017; Li et al., 2008). The internal

consistency of the BISCC in the present sample was adequate (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.772). CFA
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results demonstrated that the BISCC had a good data fit (χ (5, N = 521) = 12.14 (p < 0.001), χ /df =

2.43; CFI = 0.987, TLI = 0.973; RMSEA = 0.052 (90% CI = 0.014–0.091); SRMR = 0.020).
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2.2.3. Self-esteem
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The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was employed to assess individuals’ global
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self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1986). The RSES was a 10-item scale that were answered using a 4-point

scale (1 = strongly agree, 4 = strongly disagree). An example item was “Overall, I am satisfied
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with myself.” Some studies, which translated and validated the Chinese version, found that it was

a reliable and valid measure (e.g., Chen et al., 2017). Its Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.871 in

the present study. CFA results showed that this scale fitted the data well (χ2 (34, N = 521) = 109.21

(p < 0.001), χ2/df = 3.21; CFI = 0.936, TLI = 0.915; RMSEA = 0.065 (90% CI = 0.052–0.079);

SRMR = 0.049).
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2.2.4. Social Anxiety

Consistent with previous studies (He and Zhang, 2004; Li et al., 2017), we employed the

Chinese version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) to measure social anxiety. The

original version of the LSAS contained 24 items that were scored on a 0–3 scale (0 = never, 3 =

almost always). A sample item of the LSAS was “Speaking during the conference.” The Chinese

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version of the LSAS showed good structural validity and internal consistency (He and Zhang,

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2004; Lin et al., 2017). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the Chinese LSAS was 0.936 in this

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study. CFA results of this scale showed a reasonable fit for the data (χ2 (186, N = 521) = 509.56 (p <

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0.001), χ2/df = 2.74; CFI = 0.914, TLI = 0.903; RMSEA = 0.058 (90% CI = 0.052–0.064); SRMR

= 0.046).
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2.3. Analytic Strategy
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Using IBM SPSS statistic 21, descriptive analyses were conducted for all study variables. In

addition, we used a structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the mediating role of BIS and
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self-esteem in the relationship between shyness and social anxiety. We controlled for gender and
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age in SEM as there was a significant relation between gender/age and self-esteem (Avison and

Mcalpine, 1992; Patchin and Hinduja, 2010). The current study adopted a packaging process of
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measurement indicators that was used by other researchers (Bian et al., 2007; Russell et al., 1998).
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To acquire the loading of each item, a principal component analysis was run for shyness, BIS,

self-esteem and social anxiety scale. Using the loading information, we created three-item parcels

for each scale. Specifically, the item with the highest loading was placed into the first parcel, the

item with the second highest loading was placed into the second parcel, and the item with the third

highest loading was placed into the third parcel. Then, the item with the fourth highest loading

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was placed into the third parcel, the item with the fifth highest loading was placed into the second

parcel, and the item with the sixth highest loading was placed into the first parcel. This was

repeated until each item was assigned to a parcel. The software program (Mplus 7) was adopted to

evaluate the proposed models to the data (Muthén and Muthén, 2012). Missing data were

addressed using the full information maximum likelihood (FIML) procedure. In order to account

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for identified data non-normality, the SEM was performed via the robust maximum likelihood

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(MLR) estimator. Bootstrapping procedures were employed to test indirect effects (Preacher and

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Hayes, 2008).

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To assess goodness-of-fit of the CFA model, we used the following standard fit indices

(Jackson et al., 2009): a comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.90; a Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) > 0.90; a
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root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) < 0.08; a standardized root mean square
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residual (SRMR) < 0.10.

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3. Results
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3.1. Descriptive statistics of the study variables

Table 1 summarized means, standard deviations and gender effects of shyness, social anxiety,
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BIS and self-esteem. Results showed that females’ social anxiety and BIS scores were
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significantly higher than males’ scores (p < 0.001). The correlations between shyness, social

anxiety, BIS, self-esteem, age and gender were listed in table 2. Shyness was significantly

positively related with social anxiety (p < 0.01) and BIS (p < 0.01), and negatively related with

self-esteem (p < 0.01). We also found that self-esteem was significantly negatively associated with

BIS (p < 0.01) and social anxiety (p < 0.01), while BIS was significantly positively related with

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social anxiety (p < 0.01). Moreover, BIS was significantly negatively associated with age (p <

0.05) and gender (0 = female, 1 = male) (p < 0.05). Finally, age was significantly positively

related with self-esteem (p < 0.01) and gender (p < 0.01).

3.2. Measurement model

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to test the data fit of the measurement

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model. The measurement model consisted of four latent variables (shyness, BIS, self-esteem and

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social anxiety) and fourteen observed variables. The measurement model showed a good data fit:

χ2 (71, N = 521) = 100.86 (p < 0.001), χ2/df = 1.42; CFI = 0.990, TLI = 0.987; RMSEA = 0.028

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(90% CI = 0.014–0.040); SRMR = 0.028. All indicators of latent variables were significant (p <
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0.01), suggesting that the latent factors were well represented by their respective indicators.
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3.3. Structural equation modeling

The model examined the associations between shyness, BIS, self-esteem and social anxiety,
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while controlled for gender and age for the entire sample (see Fig. 2). Results showed a good fit to
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the data, χ2 (71, N = 521) = 92.98 (p = 0.001), χ2/df = 1.31; CFI = 0.992, TLI = 0.980; RMSEA =
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0.024 (90% CI = 0.005–0.037); SRMR = 0.028. Our mediation analysis demonstrated that the

relation between shyness and social anxiety was partially mediated by BIS and self-esteem, the
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direct effect of shyness on social anxiety was significant (β = 0.262, SE = 0.074, p < 0.001, CI =

0.160 to 0.443), and the indirect effects of shyness on social anxiety via BIS and self-esteem were

both significant(BIS: β = 0.052, SE = 0.023, p = 0.024, CI = 0.007 to 0.098; self-esteem: β =

0.091, SE = 0.025, p < 0.001, CI = 0.043 to 0.140). Table 3 showed the results of this analysis.

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4. Discussion
The present study explored the relationship among BIS, self-esteem, shyness and social

anxiety. Correlational analyses demonstrated that shyness was positively associated with social

anxiety, which verified Hypothesis 1 of this study. In addition, we found that BIS was positively

correlated with shyness and social anxiety while self-esteem was negatively related to them,

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supporting Hypothesis 2. More importantly, it was found that the relation between shyness and

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social anxiety was partially mediated by BIS and self-esteem, which supported Hypothesis 3.

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Taken together, these results indicated that BIS and self-esteem played important roles in the

relation between shyness and social anxiety.

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Consistent with our expectation, people’s shyness was positively correlated with their social
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anxiety. This finding was in accordance with the increasing number of studies showing the
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association between shyness and social anxiety in childhood and adolescence (Coplan et al., 2013;

Shamiressakow et al., 2005; Weeks et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2013). Although around 40% of shy
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individuals had social anxiety problems (Chavira et al., 2002), our finding linked shyness to social
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anxiety. This supported the overlapping and continuum hypotheses because they focused on the

association between shyness and social anxiety (Iancu et al., 2011).

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In addition, we observed that BIS was positively correlated with shyness and social anxiety,
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indicating that individuals with stronger BIS activity might show high shyness and social anxiety.

This observation was consistent with that described in previous empirical studies, which showed

that BIS could predict shyness in undergraduate students (Bowker et al., 2017) and social anxiety

among children (Coplan et al., 2006). This finding was also coincident with the Gray’s theory and

theory on social withdrawal, which suggested that BIS was related to shyness and social anxiety.

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People who have high BIS activity were more likely to be motivated by avoidance and anxiety

(Cerutti et al., 2012; Franken et al., 2005), resulting in their high shyness and social anxiety.

We found that self-esteem was negatively related to shyness and social anxiety. Indeed, as

noted above, low self-esteem was related to a range of psychological problems (Button et al., 1996;

Dumont and Provost, 1999). Therefore, it was likely that individuals with low self-esteem might

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show high shyness and social anxiety. This viewpoint was supported and documented by previous

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studies examining shyness and social anxiety (Chan and Wong, 2013; Yousaf, 2015). Although the

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correlation between BIS and self-esteem in our SEM was not significant, our correlational

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analyses showed that there was a significant negative correlation between them. Such negative

correlation was also observed in the study of Heimpel et al. (2006). Gray’s theory suggested that
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high BIS activity was linked to passive avoidant behaviours (Gray, 1987; Berger and Anaki, 2014),
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resulting in low self-concept. It has previously been argued that self-esteem was one of important

indexes of self-concept. Thus, individuals with stronger activity in the BIS showed
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low self-esteem in their self-perceptions.

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A notable finding was that BIS partially mediated the association between shyness and social

anxiety, which indicated that BIS played an important role in the link between these two variables.
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It might be that individuals with high shyness had high levels of BIS activity, leading to their high
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social anxiety (Brakel and Muris, 2006; Coplan et al., 2006). Indeed, the relationship between

shyness and social anxiety appeared to be mediated by a plethora of avoidant factors, such as

internalizing coping strategies (Xin et al., 2011) and anxious social withdrawal (Gazelle, 2010).

The characteristics of the avoidant factors (e.g., passive and worrying) were similar to those of

BIS (Xin et al., 2011).

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We also found that self-esteem partially mediated the relationship between shyness and social

anxiety. More specifically, shyness not only directly influenced social anxiety, but also indirectly

affected social anxiety via self-esteem. This suggested that self-esteem was an important factor

mediating the link between shyness and social anxiety. There was evidence that high shyness led

to lowered self-esteem (Arpana and D'Souza, 2012), which, in turn, resulted in high social anxiety.

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Similarly to our finding, a recent study found that social attitudes were important intermediary

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factors in the association between shyness and social anxiety (Vassilopoulos et al., 2017).

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Therefore, it was likely that the relationship between shyness and social anxiety might be

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mediated by basic personality dispositions (e.g., self-esteem and social attitudes) (Roberts, 2002).

Females’ social anxiety scores were significantly higher than males’ scores. This observation
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was consistent with that described in previous studies (e.g., Breslau et al., 2000). From an
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evolutionary point of view, females, compared with males, were more susceptible to negative life

experiences, resulting in higher social anxiety (Kemp et al., 2004). Additionally, females showed a
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strong activity in the BIS than males. This finding was documented by a number of previous
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studies examining people’s BIS (e.g., Carver and White, 1994; Jorm et al., 1998).
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5. Limitations
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Like other studies, the present study was not without limitations. To conduct research, we

applied a cross-sectional method, which could not establish a causal relationship among BIS,

self-esteem, shyness and social anxiety. Therefore, our findings should be further investigated by

future longitudinal studies. In addition, given that the volunteers in the present study were young

adults, one might be cautious when generalizing the findings to other age groups, such as children

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children and adolescents.

6. Conclusion
In summary, the present study was an attempt to explore the relationships between BIS,

self-esteem, shyness and social anxiety. There was a significant positive correlation between

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shyness and social anxiety, which supported the overlapping and continuum hypotheses.

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In addition, we found that BIS was positively correlated with shyness and social anxiety while

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self-esteem was negatively related to them, suggesting that BIS and self-esteem were different in

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the relation between shyness and social anxiety. More importantly, it was found that the relation

between shyness and social anxiety was partially mediated by BIS and self-esteem. This indicated
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that BIS and self-esteem played important roles in the relation between shyness and social anxiety.
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Given the limited number of studies examining the links between BIS, self-esteem, shyness and

social anxiety, further studies are needed to investigate additional factors that might link shyness
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and social anxiety.

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Funding This research was supported by the Social Science Research “the 13th Five-year Plan”
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Project for Sichuan Province in 2017 year (No.SC17C057), the Person of Outstanding Ability of
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China West Normal University (No. 17YC210) and the Doctoral Initiating Scientific Research

Fund of China West Normal University (No. 16E023).

Conflict of Interest Guangming Ran declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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Figure legends

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Fig 1. The hypothesized model of the relationships among BIS, self-esteem, shyness and social anxiety.
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Note: SHY shyness, SA social anxiety, BIS behavioral inhibition system, RSE self-esteem.
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Fig 2. Structural equation model regarding the mediating effects of BIS and self-esteem on the

association between shyness and social anxiety. Note: SHY shyness, SHY1–SHY3 three parcels of
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evaluative concerns shyness; SA social anxiety, SA1–SA3 three parcels of evaluative concerns social

anxiety; BIS behavioral inhibition system, BIS1–BIS5 five parcels of evaluative concerns BIS; RSE

self-esteem, RSE1–RSE3 three parcels of evaluative concerns self-esteem. Only paths with significance

were shown.

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Table 1
Means, standard deviations and gender effects of shyness, SA, BIS and self-esteem.

Total(N = 521) Male (N = 237) Female(N = 284) Gender difference test

Variables
M SD M SD M SD t p

Shyness 44.66 10.83 45.74 11.37 44.27 10.62 1.36 .174

SA 51.80 23.67 44.30 23.97 54.47 23.01 -4.39 < .001

BIS 15.50 1.92 14.95 2.13 15.70 1.80 -3.99 < .001

Self-esteem 29.18 4.74 29.56 5.00 29.04 4.65 1.09 .277

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Note: SA: social anxiety; BIS: behavioral inhibition system.

Table 2
Correlations between shyness, SA, BIS, self-esteem, age and gender.

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Note: SA: social anxiety; BIS: behavioral inhibition system; **p < .01, and *p < .05.

Variables

1Shyness 
1 2


3

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2 SA 0.37**
Table 3
3 BIS 0.25** 0.24** 

4 Self-esteem -0.40** -0.32** -0.18**  Standardized indirect effects

5 Age 0.10 0.01 -0.10* 0.16**  from shyness to social

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6 Gender 0.04 -0.07 -0.10* 0.01 0.14**  anxiety.

Note: SA: social anxiety; BIS: behavioral inhibition system.

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Indirect effect β(standardized indirect effect) SE p 95% CI standardized indirect effect

From shyness to SA via BIS and Self-esteem 0.144 0.033 p < 0.001 0.078, 0.209
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via BIS (0.333) × (0.157) = 0.052 0.023 p = 0.024 0.007, 0.098

via Self-esteem (-0.442) × (-0.207) = 0.091 0.025 p < 0.001 0.043, 0.140

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