The Effect Of Self-attention On The Appearance Anxiety Of Female College Students:the Moderating Role Of Mask Wearing

In recent years,due to the outbreak of the epidemic,masks have gradually become a daily necessity.However,apart from the identity of health protection,masks can also be used as a tool to cover facial defects.Especially in today’s society,appearance anxiety is common among female college students.So could masks play a role in easing facial anxiety in a post-pandemic world?This study will use experimental method to investigate the influence of self-attention on appearance anxiety of female college students and the role of mask wearing in online and offline situations.In the first study,128 female college students were selected as subjects to explore the effect of facial occlusion on appearance anxiety of female college students in an online situation by activating their high/low level of self-attention.2(self-attention: high,low)×2(facial occlusion: with or without masks)design was adopted among subjects.Self-attention was activated by camera,mask wearing was used as experimental material,and facial anxiety was measured by questionnaire.The results showed that:(1)the video presentation of online situations successfully activated different levels of self-attention;(2)In the online situation,the influence of self-attention level on the level of appearance anxiety of female college students was significantly different;Under the condition of high self-concern,female college students have higher level of appearance anxiety.With low self-concern,the level of appearance anxiety of female college students is lower.(3)There were significant differences in the interaction between self-attention and facial occlusion on the level of facial anxiety;In the online situation,for female college students in the high self-concern group,the level of appearance anxiety produced under the condition of face occlusion is significantly lower than that without face occlusion,while for female college students in the low self-concern group,the level of appearance anxiety produced under the condition of mask wearing is not significantly different.In the second study,125 female college students were selected as the research objects to explore the influence of mask wearing with or without facial mask on appearance anxiety of female college students in an offline situation by activating high/low level of self-attention.2(self-attention: high,low)× 2(facial occlusion:with or without masks)design was adopted among subjects.The priming of self-concern was initiated by viewpoint selection exercise,face mask was used as experimental material,and facial anxiety was measured by questionnaire.The results showed that:(1)In offline situations,different perspective-selection exercises induced different levels of self-attention;(2)In the offline situation,the influence of self-attention level on the level of appearance anxiety of female college students was significantly different;Under the condition of high self-concern,the level of appearance anxiety of female college students is higher.With low self-concern,the level of appearance anxiety of female college students is lower.(3)There were significant differences in the interaction between self-attention and mask wearing on the level of facial anxiety;In the offline situation,for female college students in the high self-concern group,the level of appearance anxiety produced under the condition of mask wearing is significantly lower than that without mask wearing,while for female college students in the low self-concern group,there is no significant difference in the level of appearance anxiety with or without mask wearing.The research conclusions are as follows:(1)Both online video conferencing and offline opinion selection make female college students have higher self-concern;(2)Self-concern has an effect on appearance anxiety.Female college students in the high self-concern group showed a higher level of appearance anxiety than those in the low self-concern group.(3)mask wearing played a moderating role in the relationship between self-concern and appearance anxiety.Compared with the condition without mask,female college students in the high self-concern group showed a lower level of appearance anxiety when wearing a mask.