Validation of the Greek Version of Social Appearance Anxiety Scale in Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Many people are worried about their social appearance. The fear of negative evaluation and judgment regarding one’s look in social circumstances is referred to as social appearance anxiety. Social appearance anxiety belongs to social anxiety. The aim of the present study was to validate the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) in the Greek language and to examine its psychometric properties. An online survey was conducted in a Greek population sample of adolescents and young adults aged 18 to 35 years. The survey instruments included the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale, the Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS), 2 subscales of Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire Appearance Scale (MBSRQ), the Appearance Schemas Inventory-Revised Scale (ASI-R) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS). A total of 429 respondents participated in this research. The statistical analysis showed that the Greek version of the SAAS has good psychometric properties. The internal consistency of questions within the SAAS was 0.942. Positive correlations were found between SAAS and SPAS, the overweight preoccupation subscale of MBSRQ, the ASI-R and the DASS, while negative correlations were observed between SAAS and the appearance evaluation subscale of MBSRQ and age. The results of this study suggest that the Greek version of SAAS can be used as a reliable and valid instrument in the Greek population.

Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: a psychometric investigation and evaluation of the influence of individual characteristics on social appearance anxiety in Brazilian adults who practice physical exercise

“…The scale has already been translated and cross-culturally adapted for different countries (Hart et al, 2008;Claes et al, 2012;Dakanalis et al, 2016;Radix et al, 2018). In addition, studies have shown adequate psychometric properties of this scale, suggesting its good ability to screen signs and symptoms of social appearance anxiety (Claes et al, 2012;Papapanou et al, 2023). Donofre et al (2021) developed a Portuguese version of the SAAS for the Brazilian context, but its psychometric properties have not yet been evaluated.…”

“…Understanding the relationship between social appearance anxiety and individual characteristics is also relevant to develop appropriate scientific and clinical protocols. Relationships have been found between higher scores of social appearance anxiety and younger age, as well as unemployment (Papapanou et al, 2023). Characteristics such as body mass index and body fat and their relationships with social appearance anxiety have also been studied (Levinson and Rodebaugh, 2011).…”