Do Underweight Newborns Make for Shy Adults?

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Specifically, the researchers assessed four components of personality: temperament (shyness and sociability, neuroticism and extraversion), motivation (behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation), cognitive and affective (self-esteem, loneliness) and socialization.

The adults who had been extremely underweight at birth reported being shyer, having more behavioral inhibition, lower sociability, higher risk-aversion and a greater tendency to follow social convention. The results were the same for both men and women.

There were also differences within the extremely-low-birth-weight group, with lower birth weight linked to more shyness, behavioral inhibition and loneliness, among other traits.

But the study authors did provide one note of caution: The adults who had been born extremely underweight in this group also had similar relationships with peers, partners and family as the normal-birth-weight group.

More information

The March of Dimes has more on low birth weight.