My SO and I have been together 3 years and his social awkwardness and lack of confidence is starting to become a problem.

As the title said, we've been together all through high school and are now 19 and in college. Through high school we hung out with the same people and had the same group of friends. However, now that we are in college I am truly starting to see how hard of a time he has being social. I think college has actually made it worse. Anytime we are in a situation where he doesn't know many people he automatically shuts down and starts to panic.

He was picked on throughout middle school and early high school and I think it led him to have serious confidence issues. He has trouble talking to my friends and is quick to harshly judge others people before getting to know them. He is worried that anybody he talks to will think he's stupid or something.

I always thought, "He's just shy...you just have to get to know him." But when I brought up the idea studying abroad without eachother, he told me, "I don't want to go off to a country I've never been to with people I don't know without you." This really made me realize how much he feared social interaction.

I don't know what to do. I really do love him very much. Our relationship is perfect in every other aspect and when he's comfortable with a group he is very social. But honestly confidence is something I really want in a significant other, and I'm not sure if he will truly "mature out of it" like I thought.