In the present study, we examine short‐ and long‐term associations between shyness and socio‐emotional difficulties from early to middle childhood. Participants in this study were part of the Matter of the First Friendship Study (MOFF), a large‐scale multi‐wave longitudinal study. At Time 1, N = 555 4‐year‐old children were recruited from childcare centers and followed across four data collections. At four timepoints of data collection, teachers rated children's shyness and indices of socio‐emotional difficulties (i.e., internalizing difficulties, peer problems) from age 4 to 7 years. Parents provided background and demographic information. Results from growth curve analyses showed that shyness was concurrently associated with emotional difficulties and problems with peers at each time point. However, shyness at age 4 years did not significantly predict the longitudinal trajectory of socio‐emotional difficulties across childhood. Overall, these results indicated that concurrent levels of shyness are associated with socio‐emotional difficulties, however, whether shyness serves as a distal predictor of socio‐emotional difficulties from early to middle childhood remains less clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]