Linear and curvilinear association of pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms among youth with different subgroups of childhood trauma

Social anxiety is a common symptom that occurs after exposure to childhood trauma (CT), and pain tolerance is a protective factor against social anxiety in generic populations with CT. However, few studies have investigated whether and how this association varies across different CT subgroups. Thus, this study aimed to investigate (1) the effects of pain tolerance on social anxiety symptoms among youth with different subgroups of CT; (2) the nonlinear relationship between pain tolerance and social anxiety symptoms among different CT categories.