Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
J Abnorm Psychol. 2018 Nov;127(8):770-780. doi: 10.1037/abn0000387. Epub 2018 Oct 11.
Individuals with appearance concerns engage in "safety behaviors" (SBs) aimed at checking, hiding, fixing, and reducing threat associated with their perceived flaw in appearance. Appearance-related SBs are important in contemporary accounts of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), though they are also relevant to social anxiety (SAD) and eating disorders. The present study examined the extent to which appearance-related SBs contribute to the development of disorder-specific symptoms and maladaptive cognitions. Female undergraduates without clinically elevated appearance concerns (N = 99) were randomly assigned to 1 week of (a) increasing the frequency and duration of appearance-related SBs (SB+), (b) decreasing these behaviors (SB-), or (c) a control in which they increased their academic studying behaviors. Generally, SB+ participants demonstrated greater BDD symptoms, SAD symptoms, body dissatisfaction, disorder-relevant threat interpretations, beliefs about the importance of appearance, and reactivity to an in vivo appearance-related task following the manipulation, relative to the other groups, with some exceptions. The SB- and control conditions largely did not differ from one another in these outcomes. SB+ participants also reported greater anxiety and depressive symptoms postmanipulation relative to other conditions. Groups no longer differed from one another at a follow-up assessment. Overall, these findings suggest that engagement in appearance-related SBs may play an instrumental role in symptoms and maladaptive cognitions across a range of disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
个体对外貌的关注会导致他们采取“安全行为”（SBs），旨在检查、隐藏、修复和减少与他们感知到的外貌缺陷相关的威胁。在外貌相关的躯体变形障碍（BDD）的现代描述中，这些行为很重要，但它们也与社交焦虑（SAD）和饮食失调有关。本研究考察了外貌相关的 SBs 对特定障碍症状和适应不良认知发展的影响程度。没有明显外貌担忧的女性大学生（N=99）被随机分配到以下三组之一：（a）增加与外貌相关的 SBs 的频率和持续时间（SB+），（b）减少这些行为（SB-），或（c）增加学术学习行为的对照组。一般来说，与其他组相比，SB+参与者在接受干预后表现出更多的 BDD 症状、SAD 症状、身体不满、与障碍相关的威胁解释、对外表重要性的信念以及对现场与外貌相关的任务的反应，不过也有一些例外。SB-和对照组在这些结果上没有太大区别。与其他条件相比，SB+参与者在干预后报告的焦虑和抑郁症状也更多。在后续评估中，各组之间不再有差异。总的来说，这些发现表明，参与与外貌相关的 SBs 可能在外貌障碍、社交焦虑障碍和饮食失调等一系列障碍的症状和适应不良认知中起重要作用。（PsycINFO 数据库记录（c）2018 APA，保留所有权利）。
