Appearance-related safety behaviors (ARSBs) are maladaptive behavioral strategies employed to manage a perceived flaw in physical appearance or avoid judgment from others due to appearance. While a growing body of research have examined ARSBs using between-person designs, there is a lack of evidence examining how ARSBs may be associated with appearance concerns and social anxiety within-person. The present study preliminarily examined the validity of a daily measure of ARSBs and how daily ARSBs may be associated with same-day appearance concerns and social anxiety. Using a daily-diary approach, young undergraduate adults (N = 107) completed daily-diary surveys twice a week for one month (513 total surveys). Our measure of daily ARSBs converged with a baseline measure of ARSBs. Also, baseline ARSBs predicted daily ARSBs above and beyond daily anxiety and baseline appearance concerns. Within-person analyses also revealed that increases in ARSBs were associated with same day increases in appearance concerns and social anxiety. Baseline clinical symptoms moderated the observed daily relationships, indicating that they were either more pronounced or only present among individuals with elevated appearance concerns or social anxiety. Overall, the present study provides preliminary evidence that ARSBs are a salient factor for appearance concerns and social anxiety within-persons.
Patel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.