Appearance self-esteem in systemic sclerosis

Although disease- and/or treatment,lent-related changes in physical appeara nce accompany many illnesses, the relationship of these physical changes to appearance self-esteem and overall psychological adjustment has received l ittle attention in the literature. In this study, subjects were 93 persons with diagnoses of systemic sclerosis, a chronic and progressive rheumatic d isease characterized by physical changes, especially skill thickening. Subj ects received clinical examinations of skin tickening and provided self-rep orts via questionnaires of their appearance-related self-esteem and overall psychological distress. Results showed that disease-related physical chang es were related to appearance self-esteem. Stepwise multiple regression ana lysis found skin thickening of the right hand and fingers to be the stronge st predictors of appearance self-esteem. Appearance self-esteem was examine d as a possible moderator or mediator of the relationship between skin thic kening and psychological distress. Results did not support a moderator role for appearance self-esteem; however, appearance self-esteem met statistica l criteria as a mediator of the relationship between skin thickening and di stress. Interestingly, results differed for the diffuse and limited subtype s of systemic sclerosis, suggesting that physical changes associated with d isease may have stronger relationships with, self-esteem and overall adjadj ustment in the context of less serious illnesses.