Endo M, Ono M, Deguchi A, Iwata Y, Tamada Y, Masuya J, Tanabe H, Hashimoto N, Inoue T, Honyashiki M. Effects of Subjective Social Status and Self-Esteem in the Association Between Childhood Abuse and Adulthood Anxiety.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat 2024;
20:877-884. [PMID:
38645712 PMCID:
PMC11032103 DOI:
10.2147/ndt.s440616]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
Subjective social status influences anxiety, but at present, the mechanism is not fully understood. It has been reported that negative childhood experiences, such as abuse, can influence depressive symptoms through subjective social status and personality traits, such as self-esteem. A similar mechanism is presumed to underlie anxiety symptoms in adulthood. Therefore, we hypothesized that subjective social status and self-esteem are intermediate factors in the indirect effects of childhood abuse on state anxiety in adulthood, and analyzed the indirect effects via these factors using a path analysis.
Subjects and Methods
Child Abuse and Trauma Scale, Subjective Social Status, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Form Y questionnaires were administered in a self-report format to 404 adult volunteers from January 2014 to August 2014. In addition, a path analysis was conducted to determine whether subjective social status and self-esteem are associated with the indirect effects of childhood abuse on anxiety symptoms in adulthood.
Results
Childhood abuse did not directly affect state anxiety in adulthood, but affected state anxiety via subjective social status and self-esteem. Subjective social status affected state anxiety via self-esteem. This model explained 25.2% of the variation in state anxiety in adult volunteers.
Conclusion
The present study demonstrated that childhood abuse affects anxiety in adulthood through subjective social status and self-esteem. Therefore, interventions that enhance subjective social status and self-esteem for adults who experienced childhood abuse may help reduce their anxiety.
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