Social Physique Anxiety and Body Image as Precursors of Social Adjustment Among University Students

Existent study focused on exploring social physique anxiety and body image as the precursor of social adjustment among university students. The study was a web based correlational research design, and a purposive convenient sampling method was used in which the Google forms were prepared and online data was collected from different universities of Pakistan. Current study sample comprised (N = 324) university students with the representation of boys (n = 167) and girls (n = 157) respectively. Variables in the current study were operationalized using self-report measures. As Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS; Hart et al., 1989) was administered to measure social physique anxiety, Adolescents Body Image Satisfaction Scale (ABISS; Leone et al., 2014) was used to assess body image and Social Adjustment to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1989) was used to measured social adjustment among university students. Correlation, linear regression analysis, Analysis of variance and independent sample t-test were carried out for analyzing the hypotheses of the present study using SPSS 23V. Findings of the study show that social physique anxiety significantly negatively predicted social adjustment. Moreover, body image significantly positively predicted social adjustment. Furthermore, study also indicates that there were no significant variations in social physique anxiety, body image and social adjustment between girls and boys. Similarly no mean differences were found in other demographics as residence, family system etc. The present study also found the effect of BMI among variables of the study. Over-weight individual have a higher level of social physique anxiety than under-weight and normal weight individuals. Additionally, normal individuals score higher on body image as compared to over-weight and under-weight individuals. All the other demographics have non-significant differences among the study variables.