Abstract
Body shape issues are prevalent among young women and are strongly associated with anxiety. However, the mechanisms underlying this association remain untraversed. The current study examined whether maladaptive emotion regulation strategies such as expressive suppression and rumination mediate the connection between anxiety and body shape disturbances and whether self-esteem function as a protective factor.
Method
A cross-sectional survey was performed with 162 young women between the age range of 18-30 years who were recruited from university. Participants completed validated measures of body shape disturbances such as self-esteem, anxiety, expressive suppression, rumination and body shape concerns. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, step wise regression and Hayes' PROCESS macro to test parallel mediation and moderation models.
Results
Body shape disturbances showed a significant positive correlation with anxiety. Suppression and rumination each partially mediated this association, with significant indirect effects validated by bootstrapped confidence intervals. Self-esteem was negatively correlated with anxiety appearing as a protective factor. Furthermore, moderation analysis pointed that the effect of body shape concerns on anxiety was weakened among women with higher self-esteem.
Conclusion
Findings emphasize rumination and suppression as psychological pathways connecting body image concerns with anxiety while underpinning self-esteem as a buffer. Interventions reinforcing self-esteem and promoting adaptive regulation strategies may lessen anxiety in young women with body shape disturbances. These results uphold the development of targeted prevention and wellbeing programs aligned with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).