Kindheitsbelastungen und Symptome der Sozialen Phobie und Agoraphobie im Erwachsenenalter

Objectives: Anxiety disorders are among themost prevalent mental disorders inmodern times. Childhood stress constitutes a risk factor for their occurrence in adulthood.

Methods: In a sample of 1000 Polish and German probands recruited via the internet, we studied the associations of nine childhood stress factors (physical abuse, periodic harsh physical punishment, threat of physical violence, sexual abuse, neglect, long-term absence of a parent, violence between parents, arguments between parents and financial hardship) with later agoraphobic and sociophobic symptoms.

Results: Especially neglect showed a strong association to both forms of phobic symptoms. Threat of physical violence aswell as periodic harsh physical punishment and threat of physical violence also showed an association to both forms of phobic symptoms.

Conclusions: The study revealed plausible associations for both forms of anxiety and various childhood adversities, though the amounts of explained variances were generally small.