Effect of type of schooling and gender on sociability and shyness among students

BACKGROUND: Sociability and shyness are orthogonal personality traits, wherein both are characterized by varying behavioral and psychophysiological correlates. Shyness should not be equated with the lack of sociability, as shyness relates to discomfort that occurs in the presence of others and sociability is identified with an individual's preference for being with others rather than alone. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of type of schooling on sociability and shyness among students and to study the gender differences between sociability and shyness among students. METHODOLOGY: The sample comprised 210 students from both private and government schools situated in Delhi. Data were collected using Eysenck Personality Profiler for measuring sociability and Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The results obtained from ANOVA revealed that government school students were observed to be more sociable as compared to private school students. On the other hand, private school students were found to be more shy as compared to government school students. Females were observed to be more shy as compared to males. In addition, significant interactive effect was observed for sociability when school and gender were taken altogether.