Social anxiety is typically more prevalent in people who experienced emotional abuse as children.

A recent study that was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders looked into the connection between social anxiety and childhood abuse. Jiaqi Liu and colleagues' study team performed a meta-analysis of data and found that those who experienced abuse as children are more likely to have social anxiety.

In addition, they discovered that emotional trauma was a better predictor of social anxiety than physical or sexual abuse. These results may aid physicians in identifying patients who have undiagnosed social anxiety disorder or who were abused as children.

Abuse or mistreatment of children occurs everywhere; the effects can be severe and last into adulthood. Social anxiety is a prevalent side effect of childhood abuse, according to research. People who struggle with social anxiety sometimes avoid situations and activities that they might otherwise like because they are afraid or uncomfortable in social settings.

Although there is sufficient evidence to draw a connection between social anxiety and childhood abuse, it is still unknown if specific forms of abuse are more likely than others to cause social anxiety.

Liu and colleagues did a meta-analysis of 29 research papers to better understand the effects of various forms of child abuse on the emergence of social anxiety. After examining academic databases, studies that looked at the connection between child maltreatment and social anxiety in non-clinical groups were included in the meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis is a statistical technique that integrates the findings from several studies to offer a more thorough and trustworthy analysis of the current research subject. A meta-analysis expands the sample size and statistical power by combining data from other research. This makes it possible to evaluate the link between childhood abuse and social anxiety with more accuracy and dependability.

A positive correlation between child abuse and social anxiety was shown via data analysis. The association was stronger when it came to emotional abuse. In contrast to physical or sexual abuse, social anxiety is much more likely to develop in those who experienced emotional abuse as children.

Previous studies have shown a link between early-life abuse and social anxiety. It's critical for practitioners to understand that the strongest risk factor for social anxiety appears to be emotional abuse. Verbal abuse, emotional neglect, isolating behaviours, and the withholding of compassion are all examples of emotional maltreatment. The study team advises doctors to examine patients for the other illness when they encounter adolescents or adults who have social anxiety or a history of abuse.

The meta-analysis also showed that there was a greater correlation between child abuse and social anxiety among younger individuals. Additionally, people who were receiving therapy for social anxiety at the time of the study had a higher likelihood of disclosing abuse as a kid.

According to these studies, the younger you are when you encounter childhood abuse, the more probable it is that you will also have social anxiety symptoms. Additionally, it's possible that those with social anxiety and childhood maltreatment are more inclined to seek treatment.

The study's weaknesses were recognised by the research team. First, the research that made up the meta-analysis employed various techniques to gauge social anxiety and child abuse. Some data interpretation errors may have resulted from the measuring instruments' inherent discrepancies.

Despite these drawbacks, the meta-analysis offers crucial insights into how child abuse and social anxiety are related. To further understand how they could be related, the study team recommends that future studies look at additional potential reasons of the link between childhood abuse and social anxiety. Future research should also use a wider variety of samples to examine the effects of cultural variations.

Jiaqi Liu, Jiaqi Deng, Huiping Zhang, and Xinfeng Tang wrote "The relationship between child maltreatment and social anxiety: A meta-analysis" as the study's title.