Why does being abused as a child make adult relationships difficult?

[Weebster]

I had friends as a teen, but as an adult my friendships fall apart fast.

 

[Someone123]

I was hborribly abused and didn't learn certain basic social skills until my tenties that I see my nephews and nice have at five or six years old- there is so much that is learned about social skills and social understanding and communication skills in a home with real caring and healthy communication- it's not just the abuse that happened, but all the love and all the learning about communication skills and social skills that was missed.

 

[Weebster]

I was hborribly abused and didn't learn certain basic social skills until my tenties that I see my nephews and nice have at five or six years old- there is so much that is learned about social skills and social understanding and communication skills in a home with real caring and healthy communication- it's not just the abuse that happened, but all the love and all the learning about communication skills and social skills that was missed.

But I did fine as a teen

 

[Someone123]

But I did fine as a teen

I'm glad it went well for you as a teen- it may be that the high school environment gave you a lot of opportunities to connect with others in ways that you could do, but that when you got to adulthood the ways to connect changed and you didn't have the social knowledge/ role models to know how to adapt to these new situations.

 

[Viafactorum]

I think the fear abuse victims have when they are young about others finding our their plight get's carried over as an adult which is why it is harder to maintain relationships. There is also the fact that socializing and maintaining friends as a teen is fairly easy, especially because as teens people are not sophisticated individuals so friendships are more often made based on common interests rather than mutual compatibility(my personal two cents on this, I am no psychiatrist). There is also the under developed social skills from the recluse lifestyle most abuse victims take in at a young age.