Social Appearance Anxiety Scale – Chinese Version

Description

In social life, people often assess themselves based on societal ideals of beauty, frequently scrutinized and evaluated by others. This constant observation and assessment of one’s appearance can lead individuals to focus excessively on their external image. Anxiety often arises from uncertainty, and individuals may fear negative evaluations of their appearance due to this uncertainty, leading to appearance anxiety (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). If individuals believe that they will certainly receive negative evaluations of their appearance, this may result in increased feelings of threat and hostility, a decreased regard for external opinions, and a reduced motivation to improve such evaluations, thereby diminishing social appearance anxiety. Despite differing definitions among researchers regarding appearance anxiety, they generally agree on the following points: (1) Appearance anxiety is a form of social anxiety that arises in interpersonal interactions and social contexts; (2) Individuals with high levels of appearance anxiety typically focus excessively on their external conditions and tend to have lower self-esteem; (3) Those with high appearance anxiety often believe that others will also make negative evaluations of their appearance. Based on this understanding, scholar Hart (2008) proposed the concept of social appearance anxiety: the anxiety that arises when individuals fear negative evaluations of their overall appearance (including body shape and facial features) by others.

Authors and Contact Email

Information not available

Purpose

Information not available

Test Year

Information not available

Administration Method and Scoring

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale comprises 16 items using a 5-point Likert scale, where “1” means “very inconsistent,” and “5” means “very consistent,” with item one being reverse scored. The total score obtained from adding all items directly predicts the overall level of appearance anxiety for the subjects.

Reliability and Validity

Information not available

Factors and Subscales

Information not available

Keywords

Social Appearance Anxiety, Appearance Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Self-esteem

Items in Chinese

1. 我担心人们认为我不好看。

Items in English

1. I worry that people think I am unattractive.

References

冯刘沙.社交网络体像比较对女大学生外表焦虑的影响[D].天津师范大学,2023.DOI:10.27363/d.cnki.gtsfu.2023.000139.
罗小萍.初中生负面评价恐惧、外表焦虑与限制性饮食的关系及干预研究[D].云南师范大学,2022.DOI:10.27459/d.cnki.gynfc.2022.001053.