Children's Shyness in a Surgical Setting.

OBJECTIVE We examined the relation between temperament and preoperative anxiety in 40 children (aged 8-13) who were undergoing elective surgery one week prior to surgery Time 1 (T1) and on the day of surgery Time 2 (T2). METHOD Children's temperamental shyness was examined using the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory at T1, and preoperative anxiety was assessed using the Children's Perioperative Multidimensional Anxiety Scale at T1 and T2. RESULTS We found that temperamental shyness predicted lower preoperative anxiety at T1 (β = -10.78; p = .03) and at T2 (β = -12.31; p = .03). CONCLUSION We speculate that temperamentally shy children although seemingly paradoxical, our findings suggest that temperamentally shy children may have developed coping strategies from dealing with persistent anxiety in their everyday environments, and they may use these coping skills in the surgical context. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for understanding person by context interactions and managing children's preoperative anxiety.