Understanding the concept of shyness in Turkish context: Dimensions and its outcomes

Shyness is one of the important factors affecting interpersonal relationships. For this reason, it has been one of the important study subjects. In particular, some studies have been conducted on cultural differences in terms of the definition and emergence of the concept of shyness. Considering the cultural differences in the conceptualization of shyness, it is seen that there are some differences between societies. This study aimed to understand the concept of shyness in Turkiye society and to develop a scale by revealing possible situations that cause shyness. In order to understand the concept of shyness and to determine the factors that cause shyness, open-ended questions were asked to a total of 147 participants from 3 different groups (rural, urban and shy people). The data collected from the participants were evaluated using the MAXQDA, and the results of the qualitative study were evaluated. Based on the results of the first study, data were obtained from a total of 450 participants for the second study and the factor structure, validity and reliability of the shyness scale were tested with the JASP. Finally, to test the model fit of the newly developed shyness scale, data were collected from 356 participants and confirmatory factor analysis was performed with the AMOS. According to the results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the newly developed shyness scale was found to have 6 dimensions and a total score. In addition, the internal consistency of the sub-dimensions of the scale ranged from .83 to .92, and the internal consistency of the total score was .95. Furthermore, the scale showed both divergent and convergent validity.