Title: Influence of Gender and Self-Esteem on Appearance Anxiety among Undergraduate College Students
Abstract: One of the biggest issues faced by teens and young adults in their life is appearance anxiety. The purpose of the study was to understand the influence of gender and self-esteem with appearance anxiety among undergraduate college students and to understand the predictive nature of students' self-esteem and gender on appearance anxiety. Undergraduate college students of age ranging from 18 to 21 were considered randomly from educational institutions of Irinjalakuda municipality. Equal number of male and female students were considered. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Appearance Anxiety Inventory was used to measure appearance anxiety and self-esteem of the sample population. The research concluded that there exists a moderately strong relation between appearance anxiety and self-esteem, and there lies a significant difference of appearance anxiety among male and female undergraduate college students. It is also revealed that gender is a much stronger predictor of appearance anxiety than self-esteem.