Longitudinal Associations Between Childhood Emotional Abuse and Social Anxiety in Emerging Adults: The Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity and Insecurity.

Objective: Childhood emotional abuse serves as one of the most widely recognized risk factors contributing to social anxiety. However, little is known about the role of interpersonal factors in this relationship. The present study aims to examine the longitudinal mediating effects of interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal insecurity on the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and social anxiety.

Methods: The data for this study were derived from a large-scale health-related cohort study of college students in Southeast China. A total of 3861 students completed the three waves of surveys and were used for subsequent data analysis. All participants filled out questionnaires related to childhood emotional abuse (Wave 1), interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal insecurity (Wave 2), as well as social anxiety (Wave 3). Mediation analyses with bootstrapping were conducted to explore the mediating role of interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal insecurity in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and social anxiety.

Results: The results showed that the prevalence of social anxiety was 25.9% among college students. Findings from mediation analysis showed that interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal insecurity play parallel mediating roles in the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and social anxiety.

Conclusion: Psychological interventions aimed at reducing interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal insecurity may be conducive to alleviating the social anxiety of college students who have suffered from childhood emotional abuse.