appearance anxiety inventory aai

Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI)

Anxiety

Instructions:

Please check the box that best describes the way you have felt about your appearance or a specific feature OVER THE PAST WEEK, INCLUDING TODAY.

Not at allA littleOftenA lotAll the time
 I compare aspects of my appearance to others01234
I check my appearance (e.g. in mirrors, by touching with my fingers, or by taking photos of myself)01234
I avoid situations or people because of my appearance01234
I brood about past events or reasons to explain why I look the way I do01234
I THINK about how to camouflage or alter my appearance01234
I am focussed on how I feel I look, rather than on my surroundings01234
I avoid reflective surfaces, photos, or videos of myself01234
I discuss my appearance with others or question them about it01234
I try to camouflage or alter aspects of my appearance01234
I try to prevent people from seeing aspects of my appearance within particular situations (e.g., by changing my posture, avoiding bright lights)01234
The AAI was developed by Veale et al (2014). They examined the psychometric properties in a clinical BDD sample and non-clinical community sample in the UK.
The AAI was found to have good convergent validity, with correlations of .55 with the clinician rated YBOCS-BDD and .58 with the PHQ9. Internal consistency was high, with a Cronbachs Alpha of .86. Two subscales were found using factor analysis; Avoidance and Threat Monitoring. The BDD validation sample (n = 139) had a median age of 28 and was 51.8% female. A subgroup of 12 participants had a median AAI score of 26 at diagnosis and 10.50 after CBT treatment. The non-clinical community sample (n = 108) was used to establish the normal levels of appearance anxiety among relatively healthy individuals. The group had a median age of 28.5 and 75.9% were female. The mean score was 15.45 (SD = 8.68).

Interpretation

Scores consistent of a total raw score derived by summing each item as well as two subscales. – Avoidance (items 1, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10) – Threat Monitoring (items 2, 4, 6 and 8) Two percentiles are presented to indicate how AAI scores compare to a body dysmorphic disorder group and a community sample. A BDD percentile of 50 indicates average symptoms for someone with a BDD diagnosis before treatment, while the community percentile represents scores in comparison to a normal population. Veale et al. (2014) did not define a cut-off score for BDD diagnosis but Mastro et al. (2016) suggested a cutoff score of 20 as being indicative of high risk of clinical problems.

Developer

Veale, D., Eshkevaria, E., Kanakama, N., Ellisona, N., Costa, A., and Werner, T. (2014). The Appearance Anxiety Inventory: Validation of a Process Measure in the Treatment of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42, 605-616.

Number Of Questions

10

Developer Reference:

Veale, D., Eshkevaria, E., Kanakama, N., Ellisona, N., Costa, A., and Werner, T. (2014). The Appearance Anxiety Inventory: Validation of a Process Measure in the Treatment of Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 42, 605-616.

Cite this article

mohammad looti (2026). Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/appearance-anxiety-inventory-aai/

mohammad looti. "Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2 Apr. 2026, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/appearance-anxiety-inventory-aai/.

mohammad looti. "Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2026. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/appearance-anxiety-inventory-aai/.

mohammad looti (2026) 'Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI)', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/appearance-anxiety-inventory-aai/.

[1] mohammad looti, "Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI)," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, April, 2026.

mohammad looti. Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2026;vol(issue):pages.

Related terms:

  1. Asian American Identity Scale (AAI)
  2. Appearance Anxiety Scale (AAS)
  3. Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS)
  4. Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS)
  5. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE STATE AND TRAIT ANXIETY SCALE
  6. PHYSICAL APPEARANCE STATE AND TRAIT ANXIETY SCALE
  7. Appearance Schema Inventory-Revised Short Form
  8. Appearance Preference Task (APT)
  9. Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-4 (SATAQ-4)
  10. SOCIOCULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS APPEARANCE SCALE (SATAQ)
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