Childhood trauma and social anxiety in adolescents: Mediating role of cardiovascular response to social stress

Adolescents exposed to childhood trauma are at an elevated risk for social anxiety. However, the physiological mechanisms linking childhood trauma and adolescents' social anxiety remain poorly understood. This study examined whether cardiovascular reactivity to acute social stress was a mechanism underlying this association. Participants were Chinese adolescents (N = 172; M_age = 12.95). They first reported their childhood trauma and social anxiety using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. They then participated in a social stress task, during which their cardiovascular data [heart rate (HR) and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP)] were monitored. The results showed that high levels of childhood trauma were associated with blunted HR, SBP, and DBP reactivity, which in turn were associated with high levels of social anxiety. Mediation analysis indicated that childhood trauma was indirectly associated with social anxiety via blunted cardiovascular reactivity. The findings suggest that blunted cardiovascular reactivity may serve as a physiological pathway linking childhood trauma and adolescents' social anxiety.