title: Childhood trauma and current psychological functioning in adults with social anxiety disorder.
abstract: Etiological models of social anxiety disorder (SAD) suggest that early childhood trauma contributes to the development of this disorder. However, surprisingly little is known about the link between different forms of childhood trauma and adult clinical symptoms in SAD. This study (1) compared levels of childhood trauma in adults with generalized SAD versus healthy controls (HCs), and (2) examined the relationship between specific types of childhood trauma and adult clinical symptoms in SAD. Participants were 102 individuals with generalized SAD and 30 HCs who completed measures of childhood trauma, social anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Compared to HCs, individuals with SAD reported greater childhood emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Within the SAD group, childhood emotional abuse and neglect, but not sexual abuse, physical abuse, or physical neglect, were associated with the severity of social anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and self-esteem.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. jrkuo@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Janice R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Philippe R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Goldin
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Heimberg
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gross
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008603:Mental Health; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires