Psychological Factors Influencing Appearance Anxiety Among Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review.

Abstract

Anxiety is a common mental health disorder, with recent studies emphasizing a growing trend of appearance-related concerns among adolescents. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically examine psychological factors related to the prevention and intervention of anxiety disorder. The examination process comprised searching 7 databases for studies investigating psychological factors influencing appearance anxiety among adolescents. The review focused on primary studies published in English between 2014 and 2024, which measured appearance anxiety as a dependent variable. Additionally, a narrative synthesis was conducted on 22 studies that met the inclusion criteria. As a result, the review identified 4 domains of psychological factors influencing appearance anxiety, including 1) personal (eg social media addiction), 2) cognitive (eg value), 3) emotional (eg body shame), and 4) social factors (eg teasing). The findings showed a more complex pattern between these domains, particularly describing the way cognitive and emotional factors mediated the effect of social and personal factors on appearance anxiety. Within each domain, there was considerable homogeneity in the specific factors identified. Consequently, these findings showed the importance of focusing on cognitive and emotional factors in both prevention and intervention strategies for appearance anxiety. Future studies should include other populations, such as young adults and LGBTQ individuals. This is because studies have shown that appearance anxiety is prevalent in the groups, allowing for more generalized findings.