Phan Xiao Huei
In recent years, many people fall into the fetters of the supremacy of beauty and are overwhelmed by popular aesthetic standards. Dissatisfied with their appearance and constantly driven by “aesthetic trends” particularly in social media’s influence and consumption of beauty, these young adults suffer from social appearance anxiety that results in drastic actions such as undergoing a plastic surgery. Previous studies have shown that social appearance anxiety correlates positively with actions of social anxiety and negative body image. However, research to reduce social appearance anxiety in young adults is still scarce and has not been emphasized enough. Therefore, the current study seeks to understand the problem of social appearance anxiety in young adults, as well as create awareness and develop ways to prevent and reduce this problem in our society. Theoretical insights from the writings of Levinson and Rodebaugh (2021) discover social appearance anxiety was associated with disordered eating. Research methods used include comparative analysis and observational research which determined the effectiveness of solutions or recommendations to prevent and reduce social appearance anxiety in young adults, covering both quantitative (online survey) and qualitative (online interviews) methods, targeted at young people ages 15 to 24. The present findings and results highlight the detrimental effects that explore the issues of social appearance anxiety that has become one of the important health issues among young adults. This study, perhaps for the first time, identifies a knowledge gap in reducing social appearance anxiety in young adults, offering insights to factors that cause social appearance anxiety, and exploring a solution to prevent and reduce this problem in young people.