The Relationship between Body Image and Dating Anxiety in Emerging Adults

Abstract

Both poor body image and dating anxiety are associated with psychological problems. The relationship between body image and dating anxiety is especially important to study within emerging adults, as individuals in this unique developmental phase are already prone to anxiety as they encounter new challenges related to education, career, and autonomy. We predicted that lower body image, as measured by the Body Appreciation Scales-2 (BAS-2; Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015), would be related to higher dating anxiety, as measured by the (DAS-A; Glickman & La Greca, 2004). Data from 231 emerging adults (mean age = 23.35; SD = 1.76) recruited from MTurk supported our prediction. Clinical mental health implications, limitations, and future directions for research are discussed.