Sosyal Kaygı, Deneyimsel Kaçınma, Reddedilme Duyarlılığı ve Yalnızlık Arasındaki Boylamsal İlişkiler: Çocukluk Çağı Travmalarının Rolü

Abstract

Current study consists of two stages. In the first phase, in order to measure social anxiety in Türkiye with effective and reliable instruments, the long and short variants of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) were adapted into Turkish with data collected from 523 participants in clinical and general population samples. In the second stage, short-term longitudinal associations between childhood trauma, social anxiety, loneliness, rejection sensitivity, and experiential avoidance in Canada and Türkiye were tested using cross-lagged panel models with measures taken at three different time points at three-month intervals over six months. The Time 1 sample consisted of a total of 1735 participants from both countries, with 341 participants at Time 2 and 293 participants at Time 3. Two-way MANCOVA and ANCOVA analyses were conducted to identify possible cross-cultural and gender differences using the data obtained at Time 1. Canadian participants scored significantly higher than Turkish participants on all of the main variables. At Time 1, the direct effects of being young in Canada, being female, childhood trauma, rejection sensitivity, experiential avoidance, and loneliness on social anxiety were significant. In Türkiye, the direct effects of being young, emotional neglect, sub-dimensions of childhood traumas, rejection sensitivity, experiential avoidance and loneliness on social anxiety were significant at Time1. Female participants scored higher than males on all main variables in both countries. Only in the physical abuse sub-dimension of childhood trauma, men reported higher scores than women. From a temporal perspective, social anxiety significantly increased rejection sensitivity and experiential avoidance in Türkiye, and loneliness significantly increased social anxiety, rejection sensitivity and experiential avoidance in Canada. All variables had high autoregressive effects and exhibited temporal stability. Clinically, the chronic course of the variables indicates the need for early diagnosis and long-term intervention.