Embracing the New Normal: Appearance Anxiety

and Adaptability as Predictors of Self-Motivation

Among Junior High School Students of Juan
Sumulong Memorial Junior College.
Mary Grace Baldia, Marie Kaye-Anne De Leon, Raven Dilapdilap, Lhorvanie Gavaran,
Paul John Kokaji, Jedaiah Shekinah Magno, Renzel Martizano, and Clarisse Valenzuela

Graduate School, Master in Psychology

Polytechnic University of the Philippines - Sta. Mesa, Manila

Abstract- Mention the abstract for the article. An abstract is a repeatedly adapt to new roadmaps for navigating their education.
brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference This was done through the sudden switch to online classes and
proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or virtual coursework. “Flexibility” and “new normal” became the
discipline and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain catchwords of 2020. Students have served as proof of the incredible
the paper's purpose. When used, an abstract always appears at the human capacity to reorient in new conditions to adapt and be
beginning of a manuscript, acting as the point-of-entry for any motivated despite the pandemic situation.
given scientific paper or patent application.
School life is generally viewed as stressful and something that
Index Terms- Adaptability, Appearance Anxiety, Junior can cause anxiety for most students. In this period, while these
High School Students, Philippines, Self-Motivation. individuals try to adapt with the changes and developments
occurring in their bodies, they simultaneously feel obliged to
respond to the expectations of society and to accommodate
themselves to social roles and norms (Argon, 2014), all while in the
INTRODUCTION midst of a pandemic. High self-esteem and positive body image
positively affect an individual’s coping, motivation, quality of life,
Appearance anxiety or commonly known as social achievements, and personal relationships.
appearance anxiety is a phenomenon that occurs in the mind of the
person due to physical structure. The anxiety or stress experienced The concept of appearance anxiety not only refers to general
by an individual is the fact that his or her physical appearance is physical appearance like height, weight, and muscle structure; but it
being evaluated by friends, peers, or social circle. According to also includes more underlying features such as the shape of your
Hart et al. (2008), it is a consequence of a negative image of one’s face, dental alignment, the way you smile, and even the distance
own body and appearance. between your eyes. To simply put, social appearance anxiety is the
fear that one will be negatively evaluated by other individuals
In today’s generation, experiencing a healthy adolescence is because of their appearance (Levinson et al., 2013, p. 126).
very important. Adolescence is the period of transition between
childhood and adulthood. Children who are entering adolescence Humans are motivated to make a good impression on others;
are going through many changes; they face physical, cognitive, and nevertheless, some are overly concerned about people’s perceptions
social developmental issues, which are some of the most rough and of their physical shape. People have this self-presentational drive
changeable stages of one’s life. An individual’s interaction with wherein they have an innate desire to be liked by other people and
his or her own body in this developmental stage, may evolve to be to belong in a group. When this does not occur, it leads to lack of
positive or negative as well. While negative body image has an self-esteem, poor body image, and social appearance anxiety. Social
influence on the quality of life and mental health in every stage of media has a lot to do with aggravating social appearance anxiety in
life, it occurs primarily in the youth stage (Nayir et al., 2016). In relation to how they portray the ideal body type for example
fact, studies would tell that a decline in social appearance anxiety resulting in negative self-evaluation.
comes along with aging (Yıldırım et al., 2011; Wittchen & Fehm,
2003). In a study conducted by Wittchen and Fehm (2003) with Appearance anxiety is an explored notion when it comes to
university students, students who are in their first years were self-esteem, education, and social roles and norms particularly in
observed to suffer from higher levels of social anxiety. Turkey. One study reports the association between self-esteem and
social appearance anxiety in secondary school students and results
In addition to the attributes inherent in adolescent stage, being indicated that there was a significant negative relationship between
a high school student further increases the issues that a typical self-esteem and social appearance anxiety (Sahin et al., 2014).
youth experience. When the COVID-19 pandemic strikes, almost These suggest that adolescents with low-self-esteem may exhibit
all countries including the Philippines has required students to
higher levels of social appearance anxiety or vice versa. Another
study conducted by Sevindi (2020) concludes that the social
appearance anxiety of the students who receive sports education is
lower than the students who do not receive sports education. This
finding recommended that students are encouraged to have sports
education and participate in sports activities as much as possible.
Lastly, another study aimed at examining social appearance
anxiety levels of male nursing students, their coping attitudes and
identifying the relationship between them. It was found that male
students who do not perceive themselves as having an ideal body
image face high social appearance anxiety and that there is a
prejudice that social appearance anxiety has negative effects on
these students’ self-confidence (Turan et al., 2019). Other existing
researches is generally about the reliability and validity of studies
of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale in different samples, such
as university students (Doğan, 2010; Levinson & Rodebaugh,
2011), adolescents (Doğan, 2011), and female patients with eating
disorders (Claes et al., 2012).
In the Philippines, there is a little research on appearance
anxiety, but a lot is available when it comes to adaptability and
self-motivation among students. A recent study conducted in
senior high school at Cebu explores the association between
physical appearance anxiety and social relations. It significantly
reveals that when a student experience physical appearance
anxiety, it can affect their social relations or communication
relationships (Moneva et al., 2020).
The motivation for this study is to learn more about the
strength of relationship between appearance anxiety, adaptability,
and self-motivation among selected junior high school students in
the Philippines. The research analysis can benefit guidance and
psychological counseling services in this new normal. Also,
important information about other factors that affects self-
motivation in students, specifically appearance anxiety and
adaptability can be further explored particularly in the Philippine
context.
METHOD
Participants
The target population used in the study are the Junior High
School Students of Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior College in
Taytay, Rizal, regardless of their age, gender, grade level,
academic standing, and other identifiable characteristics.
Students who participated in this study were chosen using a
simple random sampling technique. The target population is
composed of 2000 students, and utilizing the Slovin’s formula, a
sample size of 167 students were selected from the entire
population.
Procedure
To address the research questions, a multiple linear
regression analysis was used in this study, which involved
estimation of the strength of the relationships between a
dependent variable and one or more independent variables in
order to model future relationship between them. This method
determined how Appearance Anxiety and Adaptability can
predict the level of Self-Motivation among Junior High School
Students of Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior College.
The researchers employed the following statistical tools and
techniques:
Frequency and Percentage Distribution
This statistical tool was employed to present the frequency
counts and to determine the relative distribution of the
demographic profiles of the respondents in terms of:
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Grade level
Formula:
f
%= x 100
N
Where:
f - frequency
N – total number of respondents
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis
Regression analysis is a set of statistical methods used for the
estimation of relationships between a dependent variable and one
or more independent variables. It can be utilized to assess the
strength of the relationship between variables and for modeling
the future relationship between them. The Multiple Linear
Regression Analysis is a model that assesses the relationship
between a dependent variable and multiple independent
variables.
In this study, the dependent variable would be the test results
obtained from the Self-Motivation Questionnaire 1 (SMQ-1),
while the two independent variables are the test results from
Appearance Anxiety Inventory (AAI), Adaptability Self-
Assessment (ASA). The study will employ the Multiple Linear
Regression Analysis through Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS) with a level of significance of p<0.05. The
simple linear model is expressed using the following equation:
Formula:
Y = a + bX1 + cX2 + dX3 + ϵ
Where:
Y – Dependent Variable
X1, X2, and X3 – Independent Variable
a – intercept
b, c, d – slope
ϵ - residual
MATERIALS
Specifically, the researchers utilized the Appearance Anxiety
 Inventory (AAI), Adaptability Self-Assessment (ASA), and Male 58 34.73
Self-Motivation Questionnaire 1 (SMQ-1) in this study. AAI is
a 10-item self-report scale that measures the cognitive and Female 109 65.27
behavioral aspects of body image anxiety in general, and body Total 167 100
dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in particular, and is answered on a
5-point scale ranging from (0) Not at all to (5) All the time. The
AAI was developed by Veale et al (2014). They examined the Table 3 shows that Grade 10 students have the highest frequency
psychometric properties in a clinical BDD sample and non- with 46 and a percentage of 27.54 while Grade 7 students have
clinical community sample in the UK. The AAI was found to the lowest with a frequency of 36 and a percentage of 21.56%.
have good convergent validity, with correlations of .55 with the
Table 3
clinician rated YBOCS-BDD and .58 with the PHQ9, internal
consistency was also high, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of .86. Two Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents
subscales were also found using factor analysis: namely in terms of Grade Level
Avoidance and Threat Monitoring. ASA is a 9-item self-report
questionnaire that is answered on a 5-point scale ranging from Grade Level Frequency Percentage (%)
(1) Strongly Agree to (5) Strongly Disagree. SMQ-1 is a 38-
item self-report scale that covers four elements of self- Grade 7 36 21.56
motivation; namely personal drive, commitment, initiative and Grade 8 43 25.75
optimism, and is answered on a 5-point scale ranging from
Never to Always. Cut-off scores are provided in the manual to Grade 9 42 25.15
interpret the results. Grade 10 46 27.54
Total 167 100
RESULTS
Table 1 shows that 13 years old respondents have the most Table 4
frequency with 50 and a percentage of 29.94% while 17 years Multiple Linear Regression Analysis of Apeparance Anxiety
old respondents have the least with a frequency of 1 and a and Adaptability as Predictors of Self-Motivation
percentage of 0.6%. The table also reveals that majority of Juan
Sumulong Memorial College students are between 13-15 years Dimen
Model Eigen Condition Variance Proportion
old. sion
Value Index
Constant AA A
Table 1 1 1 2.824 1.000 .00 .03 .00
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents 2 .166 4.129 .02 .96 .02
in terms of Age 3 .010 16.561 .98 .01 .98

Age Frequency Percentage (%)

DISCUSSION
12 20 11.98
In this study, the connection of appearance anxiety and
13 50 29.94 adaptability as predictors of self-motivation among JHS students
14 34 20.36 of Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior College is analyzed. Given
the population size of Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior College –
15 37 22.16
Junior High School of 2000 students, a total of 167 respondents
16 25 14.97 were obtained using the Slovin’s formula. Multiple Linear
17 1 0.60 Regression Analysis is the statistical method utilized in the study,
given that the study has 1 dependent variable (Level of Self-
Total 167 100 motivation and 2 independent variables (Appearance Anxiety
Table 2 shows that female respondents are almost twice as the and Adaptability. The study would like to prove or disprove the
number of male respondents with females having a frequency of connection or association or the relationship that appearance
109 and a percentage of 65.27% while males have a frequency of anxiety and adaptability has with the level of self-motivation of
58 and a percentage of 34.73%. The table also shows that there Junior High School students at Juan Sumulong Memorial Junior
are more female than male students in Juan Sumulong Memorial College. As seen in the statistical data provided in the results
Junior College. part, the first three tables showed the frequency and percentage
distribution of the respondents in terms of (a.) age, (b.) gender
Table 2 and (c.) grade level. And lastly, Table 4 showed the results of the
Frequency and Percentage Distribution of the Respondents MLRA of the 3 variables – (1DV and 2IV). The study makes
in terms of Gender used of the following instruments to help measure and identify
the level of self-motivation, appearance anxiety and adaptability
of the selected Junior High School of Juan Sumulong Memorial
Gender Frequency Percentage (%)
Junior College; (1) AAI – Appearance Anxeity Inventory, (2)
ASA – Adaptability Self-Assessment and (3) SMQ-1 Self-
Motivation Questionnaire 1. The study took place in a medium
sample, and reliable and valid measurement tools were used in
the process; however, some limitations need to be noted as
obtained in the study. Appearance Anxiety, Adaptability and
Self-Motivation of the students were measured with the self-
report technique. Hence, views of the appearance anxiety and
adaptability of the students are not based on teacher, parent, and
their close-friend observations; they are limited to their own
perceptions. Regardless of the stated limitation(s), this study has
many practical benefits for the students, teachers, the school,
school counselors, guidance and psychological counseling
services offered in school setting. The study revealed the
importance of the relationship among the 2 independent
variables (Appearance Anxiety and Adaptability) and 1
dependent variable (Level of Self-Motivation). The study is
helpful for the students in terms of it can help them realized the
effects of Appearance Anxiety and Adaptability to their Self-
Motivation. The study can help the teachers and the school to
further know how the new education normal affects their
students. School counselors who want to determine adolescents
with low level of self-motivation must keep in record that
appearance anxiety and adaptability can be a risk factor. These
school counselors can implement random counselling check or
inventory to those students that obtain a quite low scores as
reflected in the results of the study. And lastly, for the
counseling professionals, that would want to design effective
intervention and prevention programs related to the variables
tapped in the study.
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS
CONCLUSION
A conclusion may review the main points of the paper, do not
replicate the abstract as the conclusion. A conclusion might
elaborate on the importance of the work or suggest applications
and extensions.
APPENDIX
Appendixes, if needed, appear before the acknowledgment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The preferred spelling of the word “acknowledgment” in
American English is without an “e” after the “g.” Use the
singular heading even if you have many acknowledgments.
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