Effects of Subjective Social Status and Self-Esteem in the Association Between Childhood Abuse and Adulthood Anxiety

Misaki Endo,1,2 Miki Ono,1 Ayaka Deguchi,1 Yoshio Iwata,1 Yu Tamada,1,3 Jiro Masuya,1 Hajime Tanabe,4 Naoki Hashimoto,5 Takeshi Inoue,1 Mina Honyashiki1 1Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Psychiatry, Saitama Prefectural Psychiatric Hospital, Saitama, Japan; 3Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Medical University Hachioji Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan; 4Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan; 5Department of Psychiatry, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, JapanCorrespondence: Miki Ono, Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Medical University, 6-7-1 Nishi-shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 160-0023, Japan, Tel +81-3-3342-6111, Email mikky@tokyo-med.ac.jpBackground: 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.Keywords: childhood abuse, subjective social status, self-esteem, anxiety