The impact of appearance anxiety on loneliness among college students: an integrative model

The widespread use of social media has made appearance anxiety increasingly prevalent among college students and has been linked with mental health concerns. While prior research has mostly emphasized its influence on self-perception, it has paid less attention to how such anxiety may foster loneliness through interpersonal mechanisms. Guided by self-discrepancy theory and social comparison theory, this study presents a serial mediation model to evaluate whether appearance anxiety is connected with loneliness via interpersonal sensitivity and social anxiety, and whether these pathways differ by gender. This study employed the Appearance Anxiety Scale-Brief Version, the Interpersonal Sensitivity Scale, the Interaction Anxiousness Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure appearance anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, social anxiety, and loneliness among 1255 college students. Based on the data, we constructed a serial mediation model to test its validity and further analyzed gender differences within the model. Appearance anxiety increased loneliness both directly and through the serial mediation of interpersonal sensitivity and social anxiety. Students reporting higher appearance anxiety tended to be more interpersonally sensitive, which was related to greater social anxiety, ultimately contributing to elevated loneliness. Multi-group comparisons revealed that female students had a greater predictive path from interpersonal sensitivity to social anxiety. The results highlight gender-specific differences and show the serial mediating effects of social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity in the relationship between appearance anxiety and loneliness in college students. This research provides theoretical implications for mental health interventions in higher education, with practical relevance for reducing appearance anxiety, improving social adaptation, and mitigating loneliness.