Appearance Orientation and Dating Anxiety in Emerging Adults: Considering the Roles of Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity, Social Physique Anxiety, and Self-Compassion

Swami, Viren; Barron, David; Furnham, Adrian

doi:10.1007/s10508-022-02367-8

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(125 reference statements)

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“…Appearance anxiety is not limited to dissatisfaction with weight and appearance, but also negative perceptions of height can lead to social anxiety ( 11 ). Appearance anxiety may also increase the risk of dating anxiety and dieting behaviors ( 12 ) in young adults who are affected by social anxiety ( 13 ). Therefore, while the relationship between appearance anxiety and social anxiety has been well-established, it is important to begin to explore the relationship between appearance anxiety and social anxiety, as well as begin to identify variables that may influence this effect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appearance anxiety and social anxiety: A mediated model of self-compassion

Gao

Feng

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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BackgroundPrevious studies have focused on the comorbidity of appearance anxiety and social anxiety, but few studies have focused on the protective role of self-compassion as underlying this mechanism, in young people like University students. With the increase of prevalence of appearance anxiety and social anxiety in this age group, it is necessary to explore factors that can buffer against the symptoms of these disorders. Therefore, the aims of this study were to research the effect of appearance anxiety and social anxiety, then to examine whether self-compassion has a protective effect on social anxiety.MethodThe study was cross-sectional and conducted online from October 2021 to November 2021 in Jilin Province, China. A total of 63 Universities in the province participated in this study, totaling 96,218 participants, of which 40,065 were males (41.64%) and 56,153 females (58.36%), the mean age of the sample was 19.59 (±1.74). The Appearance Anxiety Scale-Brief Version was used to measure appearance anxiety. The Social Anxiety subscale of the Self-Consciousness Scale was used to measure social anxiety. The Self-Compassion Scale-Short Form was used to measure self-compassion. A structural equation model (SEM) was run to examine the mediating effect of self-compassion on the relationship between appearance anxiety and social anxiety.ResultOverall, appearance anxiety was positively associated with social anxiety [β = 0.334, 95% CI = (0.328, 0.341), p < 0.001], and self-compassion could mediate the effect of appearance anxiety on social anxiety [β = 0.128, 95% CI = (0.124, 0.132), p < 0.001]. Self-compassion played a partial mediating role between appearance anxiety and social anxiety.ConclusionIndividuals with high appearance anxiety are also at higher risk of social anxiety, but self-compassion can buffer against this relationship. These findings begin to explore novel approaches to treat social anxiety and can provide valuable insights for self-compassion training.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appearance anxiety and social anxiety: A mediated model of self-compassion

Gao

Feng

et al. 2023

Front. Public Health

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“…Besides, women are healthier than men in terms of lifestyle behaviors (smoking, drinking, wearing masks and washing hands and keeping distance), but women are more stressed than men. Gender differences are considered to be an important explanatory parameter for lifestyle behaviors change [ 39 ], and women lead healthier lifestyles due to education status, income, self-reliance and the continuous promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors globally [ 40 , 41 ], but women are reported to be more affected by stress in all aspects of their lives (such as fertility stress [ 42 ], appearance stress [ 43 ] and work stress [ 44 , 45 ], etc. ), and their stress is also significantly higher than that of men.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the benefits of healthy lifestyle behaviors and emotional expressivity in lowering the risk of COVID-19 infection: a national survey of Chinese population

Miao,

Zhang,

et al. 2023

BMC Public Health

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Background COVID-19 is still prevalent in most countries around the world at the low level. Residents’ lifestyle behaviors and emotions are critical to prevent COVID-19 and keep healthy, but there is lacking of confirmative evidence on how residents’ lifestyle behaviors and emotional expressivity affected COVID-19 infection. Methods Baseline study was conducted in August 2022 and follow-up study was conducted in February 2023. Baseline survey collected information on residents’ basic information, as well as their lifestyle behaviors and emotions. Follow-up study was carried out to gather data on COVID-19 infection condition. Binary logistic regression was utilized to identify factors that may influence COVID-19 infection. Attributable risk (AR) was computed to determine the proportion of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and emotional factors that could be attributed to COVID-19 infection. Sensitivity analysis was performed to test the robustness of the results. Results A total of 5776 participants (46.57% males) were included in this study, yielding an overall COVID-19 infection rate of 54.8% (95%CI: 53.5 – 56.0%). The findings revealed that higher stress levels [aOR = 1.027 (95%CI; 1.005–1.050)] and lower frequency in wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping distance [aOR = 1.615 (95%CI; 1.087–2.401)], were positively associated with an increased likelihood of COVID-19 infection (all P < 0.05). If these associations were causal, 8.1% of COVID-19 infection would have been prevented if all participants had normal stress levels [Attributable Risk Percentage: 8.1% (95%CI: 5.9-10.3%)]. A significant interaction effect between stress and the frequency in wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping distance on COVID-19 infection was observed (β = 0.006, P < 0.001), which also was independent factor of COVID-19 infection. Conclusions The overall COVID-19 infection rate among residents is at a medium level. Residents’ increasing stress and decreasing frequency in wearing masks and washing hands and keeping distance contribute to increasing risk of infection, residents should increase the frequency of mask-wearing, practice hand hygiene, keep safe distance from others, ensure stable emotional state, minimize psychological stress, providing evidence support for future responses to emerging infectious diseases.

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“…This can be achieved through prevention-based practices, such as abstinence from sex, reducing one’s number of sexual partners, and using condoms during sex, as well as early detection through screening for HIV/STIs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022 ). Such practices are particularly important in emerging adulthood (ages 18–29 years; Arnett et al, 2014 ), a key development period often characterized by the development, exploration, and integration of romantic and sexual relationships (Swami et al, 2022 ; Watkins & Beckmeyer, 2020 ). Indeed, some scholars have suggested that casual sexual relationships and experiences tend to increase in frequency during emerging adulthood (Claxton & van Dulmen, 2013 ), which could be viewed as risky sexual behavior because the expansion of one’s sexual network increases the risk of the spread of STIs if no protective measures are used (Rogers et al, 2002 ; Senn, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations Between Negative Body Image and Sexual Health Practices in Emerging Adults from Malaysia

Goh,

Luginbuehl,

Swami

2024

Arch Sex Behav

Self Cite

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Past findings on the association between negative body image and sexual health behaviors have been mixed and mostly derived from Western samples. The aim of the current study was to examine associations between indices of negative body image and sexual health practices that reduce the risk of disease transmission in emerging adults, and whether these associations are moderated by gender. Using an online survey, a convenience sample of 584 Malaysian adults aged 18–30 years (230 men, 354 women) completed measures of satisfaction with overall appearance, body size dissatisfaction, weight satisfaction, height satisfaction, and genital image evaluation. They also reported if they ever had partnered sex, condomless sex, and been screened for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), as well as their lifetime number of penetrative sex partners. Hierarchical logistic and ordinal regression analyses indicated that more positive genital image evaluation, but not the other body image indices, was significantly associated with having had partnered sex and fewer lifetime penetrative sex partners. None of the body image indices were significantly associated with condomless sex. All associations were consistent across men and women. For HIV testing, a significant interaction between genital image evaluation and gender emerged. However, this was reduced to non-significance after controlling for the number of penetrative sex partners. Overall, our findings underline the importance of promoting improved genital image in interventions aimed at increasing positive sexual health behaviors.

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Appearance Orientation and Dating Anxiety in Emerging Adults: Considering the Roles of Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity, Social Physique Anxiety, and Self-Compassion

Cited by 3 publications

References 78 publications

Appearance anxiety and social anxiety: A mediated model of self-compassion

Appearance anxiety and social anxiety: A mediated model of self-compassion

Quantifying the benefits of healthy lifestyle behaviors and emotional expressivity in lowering the risk of COVID-19 infection: a national survey of Chinese population

Associations Between Negative Body Image and Sexual Health Practices in Emerging Adults from Malaysia

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