People with a history of childhood maltreatment prefer larger social distances towards friends and strangers

A new international study published in Translational Psychiatry has found that individuals who experienced childhood maltreatment tend to prefer greater physical distance from others in social interactions. The research, involving adults from dozens of countries, is the first to demonstrate that childhood maltreatment influences personal space preferences globally. The findings also show that insecure attachment styles and lower social support are linked to a larger comfortable interpersonal distance, further highlighting the impact of early trauma on social behavior.

Childhood maltreatment is a serious global issue that affects millions of children. It includes emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, as well as neglect, and its long-term effects on mental and physical health are well-documented. Those who experienced childhood maltreatment often struggle with social relationships, showing higher levels of isolation, difficulties in forming close bonds, and an increased risk of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.

Previous research has shown that childhood maltreatment can change how people respond to social situations. Survivors of childhood abuse may be more sensitive to negative social cues, misinterpret neutral expressions as threatening, and feel discomfort with physical closeness.

However, studies on how childhood maltreatment influences preferences for personal space, or comfortable interpersonal distance, have been limited in scope and primarily focused on European populations. These studies also mostly examined how people interact with strangers, leaving open the question of how personal space preferences may change with close friends.

This study was designed to fill these gaps, exploring whether the effects of childhood maltreatment on interpersonal distance preferences extend beyond strangers to include friends. Additionally, the researchers aimed to examine these effects across a broad range of cultural contexts to understand whether they hold true globally.

“It is known that child maltreatment is linked to broad impairments in social well-being. However, our knowledge on the specific factors that underlie these impairments is limited,” said study author Monique C. Pfaltz of Mid Sweden University.

“Here, we were interested in alterations in non-verbal, socially relevant behavior (what distance to we preferably take towards other persons) as we think that these might contribute to problems in social interactions and social well-being.”

To explore the link between childhood maltreatment and interpersonal distance preferences, researchers recruited 2,986 participants from around the world. The participants were adults from 43 different countries, representing a diverse range of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. They were recruited through social media, online platforms, and personal contacts. The study was conducted online, with participants completing tasks on their computers.

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First, participants were asked to complete a task designed to measure comfortable interpersonal distance. In this task, participants viewed a virtual room on their screen where a figure representing another person (either a friend or a stranger) approached them. The participants had to press a button when they felt the figure was close enough and any more approach would make them uncomfortable. This method allowed the researchers to measure the distance at which participants wanted the approaching person to stop, providing a clear indication of their preferred personal space.

In addition to the distance task, participants completed a series of questionnaires. These surveys gathered information about their childhood experiences of maltreatment using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. The questionnaires also measured social anxiety, depression, attachment styles (how secure or insecure participants felt in relationships), and levels of social support.

The results showed that participants who reported higher levels of childhood maltreatment preferred larger distances from both strangers and friends. This indicates that childhood trauma impacts not only interactions with unfamiliar people but also affects relationships with close ones. The relationship between childhood maltreatment and preferred interpersonal distance was found across all countries studied, suggesting that the impact of early trauma on social behavior is robust and not limited by cultural differences.

“People with a history of child maltreatment prefer larger social distances towards friends and strangers,” Pfaltz told PsyPost. “This might be a consequence of unpleasant or lacking social relationships with caregivers during childhood. That is, based on affected persons early, negative experiences, other persons might be interpreted as potentially dangerous. Possibly, this affects non-verbal interpersonal behavior in social situations, contributing to impaired social well-being.”

People who reported insecure attachment styles (those who feel anxious or avoidant in relationships) were also more likely to prefer larger interpersonal distances. Similarly, those who reported receiving less social support from significant others, such as family members or close friends, tended to prefer more physical space from others. This finding aligns with previous research suggesting that individuals with insecure attachment and limited social support often struggle with intimacy and closeness in relationships.

Interestingly, people with higher levels of social anxiety showed a preference for smaller interpersonal distances, contrary to the researchers’ expectations. This suggests that in some cases, individuals with social anxiety may feel more secure by keeping others closer in social settings, possibly because being closer allows them to better monitor and control interactions.

The researchers also looked at how different types of childhood maltreatment—such as emotional abuse, physical abuse, and neglect—affected interpersonal distance. They found that physical abuse and neglect had the strongest impact on personal space preferences, while emotional abuse showed a weaker, non-significant association.

But as with all research, there are some limitations to consider. The research was conducted online, and the personal space preferences were measured using a virtual task. While this method has been validated in previous studies, it does not perfectly replicate real-world social interactions, where factors like body language and emotional expressions also play a role.

The study, “Childhood maltreatment is linked to larger preferred interpersonal distances towards friends and strangers across the globe,” was authored by Shilat Haim-Nachum, Marie R. Sopp, Antonia M. Lüönd, Nimrah Afzal, Fredrik Åhs, Antje-Kathrin Allgaier, Adrián Arévalo, Christian Asongwe, Rahel Bachem, Stefanie R. Balle, Habte Belete, Tilahun Belete Mossie, Azi Berzengi, Necip Capraz, Deniz Ceylan, Daniel Dukes, Aziz Essadek, Natalia E. Fares-Otero, Sarah L. Halligan, Alla Hemi, Naved Iqbal, Laura Jobson, Einat Levy-Gigi, Chantal Martin-Soelch, Tanja Michael, Misari Oe, Miranda Olff, Helena Örnkloo, Krithika Prakash, Sarah M. Quaatz, Vijaya Raghavan, Muniarajan Ramakrishnan, Dorota Reis, Vedat Şar, Ulrich Schnyder, Soraya Seedat, Ibtihal Najm Shihab, Susilkumar Vandhana, Dany Laure Wadji, Rachel Wamser, Reut Zabag, Georgina Spies, and Monique C. Pfaltz.