Analysis of features of social anxiety and exploring the relationship between childhood major adverse experiences and social anxiety in early adulthood among Chinese college students

• 33.38% of the students reported experiencing at least one type of social anxiety symptom. • Females and individuals who consumed alcohol in the past year and individuals with a poor physical condition had a significantly higher risk of having social anxiety symptoms. • Experiencing three or more types of childhood adversities increased the risk of social anxiety in early adulthood. • The sense of security totally mediated the relationship between childhood adversity and social anxiety symptoms. Introduction: Prior studies have explored the prevalence of social anxiety disorders and found that childhood major adverse experiences increased the risk of social anxiety. However, few studies analyzed features of social anxiety and explored the mediation mechanism of the relationship between childhood major adverse experiences and social anxiety in early adulthood. Methods: Two thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine college students from Hunan, China participated in the survey-based study. They completed questionnaires on major adverse childhood experiences, social anxiety symptoms, and a sense of security during a study conducted from 2017 to 2018. Results: 1) 33.38% of the students reported experiencing at least one social anxiety symptom; the highest detection rate (20.22%) was social anxiety symptoms related to participants’ nervousness when in large groups. 2) Females and individuals who consumed alcohol in the past year and individuals with a poor physical condition had a significantly higher risk of having social anxiety symptoms (p<0.05). 3) Childhood major adverse events experience increased the risk of some social anxiety symptoms, especially experiencing 3 or more adverse events (p<0.05). 4) A sense of security mediated the relationship between childhood major adverse events experience and social anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: Extensive detection rate of social anxiety symptoms existed among college students, early adversities increased the risk of social anxiety in early adulthood, and the relationship between childhood major adversity and social anxiety was affected by sense of security.