A positive side effect of wearing face coverings for socially anxious females: Findings from a speech task

Abstract

BackgroundWearing face masks has become more common due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Until now, it has not been investigated whether socially anxious individuals can reduce their acute anxiety symptoms by wearing face masks during a speech task. MethodFifty-nine socially anxious females were asked to prepare and give an oral presentation. Participants were randomly allocated either to a group that was asked to wear a face mask during the task, or to a group that was not asked to wear a face mask during the task. Dependent variables included physiological parameters (systolic/diastolic blood pressure, heart rate) and self-reports (valence and arousal at baseline, as well as directly before and after the presentation). ResultsThe analyses showed that the group without face masks had a higher systolic blood pressure than the group with face masks, directly before as well as after the presentation. The two groups did not differ in the other measures. ConclusionWearing face masks has a small stress-reducing effect on socially anxious females.