Within-Person Appearance Concerns are Associated with Depression, General Anxiety, and Social Anxiety: A Preliminary Daily Diary Study

Appearance concerns are a core feature of multiple disorders such as body dysmorphic disorder and eating disorders; however, some research suggests that they may also play a role in social anxiety, depression, and general anxiety. A growing body of research have explored appearance concerns using between-person designs, suggesting they are key to maintaining clinical symptoms. However, there is a lack of evidence examining how these concerns are associated with social anxiety, depression, and general anxiety within-person. This study examined how daily appearance concerns are associated with same-day social anxiety, depression, and general anxiety. We used a daily-diary approach among 107 young adults who completed daily-diary surveys twice a week for one month (a total of 513 surveys). Within-person analyses revealed that increases in appearance concerns were associated with same day increases in social anxiety ( b = 0.28, p < 0.001), depression ( b = 0.12, p = 0.001), and general anxiety ( b = 0.10, p < 0.001). We also found that neither trait-levels of these symptoms nor gender moderated these effects. These findings provide preliminary support that appearance concerns are a salient factor to consider in social anxiety, depression, and general anxiety within-persons.