Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2021

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Sarah Bilsky

Second Advisor

Stephanie Miller

Third Advisor

Alan Gross

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The goal of the current study is to examine the associations between appearance related safety behaviors (i.e., behaviors aimed at preventing humiliation or embarrassment associated with appearance, such as mirror checking or skin picking) and anxiety symptoms during adolescence. Adolescence is considered a core risk period for the onset of many psychological disorders (e.g., social anxiety disorder). Critically, adults with these psychological conditions report engaging in higher levels of appearance related safety behaviors than adults without these disorders. Further, initial, promising evidence, suggests that reducing engagement in appearance related safety behaviors is associated with reduced symptoms of anxiety. To date, however, no work has examined the prevalence of appearance related safety behaviors among adolescents. The goal of this study is to examine if engagement in appearance related safety behaviors is associated with elevated overall anxiety symptoms and social anxiety symptoms during adolescence. To examine this, two hundred and twenty one adolescents (n = 61 boys, n = 111 girls, n = 41 non-binary, and n = 8 prefer not to say) between the ages of 12 and 16 years (Mage = 14.73; SD = 1.11) were recruited using social media (i.e., Facebook and Instagram) to complete a brief set of surveys. Results of the study suggested that after controlling for negative affect and general safety behavior use, appearance related safety behaviors were related to adolescent overall anxiety symptoms, and social anxiety symptoms, above and beyond negative affectivity and general safety behavior use. This provides initial evidence that appearance related safety behaviors may represent a transdiagnostic factor associated with adolescent anxiety symptoms.

Accessibility Status

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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