title: The influence of social anxiety on the body checking behaviors of female college students.
abstract: Social anxiety and eating pathology frequently co-occur. However, there is limited research examining the relationship between anxiety and body checking, aside from one study in which social physique anxiety partially mediated the relationship between body checking cognitions and body checking behavior (Haase, Mountford, & Waller, 2007). In an independent sample of 567 college women, we tested the fit of Haase and colleagues' foundational model but did not find evidence of mediation. Thus we tested the fit of an expanded path model that included eating pathology and clinical impairment. In the best-fitting path model (CFI=.991; RMSEA=.083) eating pathology and social physique anxiety positively predicted body checking, and body checking positively predicted clinical impairment. Therefore, women who endorse social physique anxiety may be more likely to engage in body checking behaviors and experience impaired psychosocial functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, MS5030, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA. Electronic address: emilykwhite@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Emily K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, MS5030, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA.
authors.forename: Cortney S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Warren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body checking; Clinical impairment; Social appearance anxiety; Social physique anxiety