The effects of body image and fear of negative evaluation on social anxiety : a study on Thai undergraduates

Abstract

This study aims to examine the effect of body image and fear of negative evaluation on social anxiety among undergraduates in Thailand. We hypothesized that body image dissatisfaction (BID) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) will be positively correlated with social anxiety (SA), and that both variable will uniquely predict social anxiety. Eighty participants completed a 37-item questionnaire assessing the three constructs. The hypotheses were tested by examining correlations between the variables, and a standard multiple regression was conducted to determine unique predictors. Results revealed that BID and FNE are positively correlated with SA, and that only FNE uniquely predicts SA, implying that FNE mediates the effect between BID and SA. Implications and contributions to the literature are discussed.