Analysis of the dynamic relationship between social physique anxiety and depressive symptoms in young adults

Abstract

This study explored the dynamic relationship between social physique anxiety and depressive symptoms in a sample of young adults over a six-month period. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, data were collected from a sample of 398 undergraduate students (47.70% females, 97.50% white) aged between 18 and 30 years old (M = 20.47, SD = 2.42). Results from the latent change score model showed that initial levels of social physique anxiety significantly predicted changes in depressive symptoms (β = 0.35, p = .002). Conversely, initial levels of depressive symptoms did not significantly predict changes in social physique anxiety (β = 0.01, p = .90). None of these relationships were moderated by sex. The findings suggest that a focus on addressing distressed affective reactions derived from anticipating negative social appraisals may help to ameliorate depressive symptoms among young adults.