Predicting the Severity of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Based on Traumatic Childhood Experiences: The Mediating Role of Shame

The aim of this study is to predict the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms based on traumatic childhood experiences through the mediating role of shame. The general design of the present study is the descriptive correlation of structural equations. The statistical population of this study is adults, aged 18 to 50 -who are living in Mashhad in 1400 - they have proper access to the Internet. Among them, 340 people were selected as a sample by the available method. Data were collected using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Scale (Y-BOCS-1989), the traumatic childhood experiences of Bernstein et al. CTQ-2003), and Cook's Internalized Shame (ISS-1993). Data analysis is performed using the structural equation modeling method using SPSS software version 26 and AMOS version 24. Findings showed that there is a significant correlation between childhood traumatic experiences and shame with the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (P <0.01). Also, the results of structural equation modeling showed that the model of the present study has an acceptable fitness and the mediating role of shame in the relationship between childhood traumatic experiences and the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (χ2/df ≤ 3) and significance level 0.001) was significant. Based on the findings of this study, traumatic childhood experiences are able to predict and affect the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms through interaction with shame.