ABSTRACT
Research on appearance-related avoidance behaviors and their links to anxiety in early adolescence is limited. This study used three-wave data across one academic year to examine how appearance-related avoidance behaviors (assessed at Wave 1) predict anxiety symptoms (measured at Waves 1–3) using zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) mixed-effects growth models. Participants included 1426 adolescents (Mage
= 12.2; 45.9% girls, 44.4% boys, 9.6% another gender; racially/ethnically diverse). Appearance-related avoidance predicted both higher baseline anxiety and changes in anxiety over time, indicating a weaker increase in anxiety across waves among adolescents reporting higher avoidance. No gender or race/ethnicity differences were found in these associations. These findings highlight the relevance of appearance-related avoidance in adolescent anxiety.