(PS8-B36) An Accidental COVID-19 Study: Changes in the Relationships Between Appearance Self-esteem, Negative Affect, and Positive Affect in Spring 2020

The psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been an important topic of study since its inception, including its impact on body image (Buckley et al., 2021; Robertson et al., 2021; Vall-Roque et al., 2020). However, because few people predicted the emergence and seriousness of the pandemic, there is little to no comparison data collected immediately pre- and post-pandemic. In the Spring of 2020, we collected data for an unrelated study at three time points: the start of Spring semester at the end of January, three weeks later in February, and at the end of the semester in May. Because we work at a small liberal arts institution, our sample sizes are small, and because of the pandemic, the retention rate was not optimal. However, because this data was collected at two time points before the shutdown in March 2020 and again in May of that year, we think that the results are still of interest, particularly as they relate to this year’s convention theme of “Emergency and Disaster Preparedness and Response.”

Sample sizes varied at the three time points, but a total of 35 students provided valid data for at least one time point. The sample was 88.9% female, 37% White, and 17.1% Black with a mean age of 20.71 (SD = 2.63). Students completed the Appearance subscale of the State Self-Esteem Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect subscales of the PANAS X via SurveyMonkey at each of the time points they participated.

Comparisons of the correlations between these constructs at each time point were calculated using Fisher’s Z, revealing interesting changes in these relationships over time. At Time 1, there was no significant relationship between positive and negative affect (r = .011, p = .964), but negative affect at Time 1 significantly predicted the lack of positive affect at Time 3 after the start of the pandemic (r = -.907, p = .013; z = 2.405, p = .008), suggesting that the important relationship between low positive emotionality and negative affect was in evidence as the participants experienced the pandemic.

In addition, even though negative affect at Time 1 significantly predicted poor appearance self-esteem at both Time 1 (r = -.696, p = .008) and Time 2, (r = -.811, p = .008) there was no relationship at Time 3 (r = -.138, p = .794), suggesting that participants may have been more apathetic about their appearance as the pandemic and social distancing progressed. The difference between this relationship at Time 2 and Time 3 approached significance, z = -1.402, p = .081.