Worries about appearance are common among young women, and for many they spill over into social life. Concern about how others judge their bodies can turn seminars, parties, and everyday conversations into ordeals. A new trial suggests that a term of Latin dance classes may help female university students feel better about their bodies and less anxious around other people.

Researchers at Henan University and Henan Kaifeng College of Science Technology and Communication in China randomly assigned 88 female students to one of two groups. The findings appear in Frontiers in Psychology. Half took part in a 10-week Latin dance programme, while the rest carried on with their usual routines.

The students were recruited at a single college and ranged from first-year to fourth-year undergraduates. None had specialist athletic training or was in another exercise or psychological programme. Both groups completed questionnaires on body image and social anxiety before the classes began and again when they ended.

Body image here means how people judge and feel about their appearance, including satisfaction with their body and worry about being overweight. Social anxiety is the tension and unease people feel in social situations because they fear being judged or embarrassed. It was measured in two parts, avoiding social contact and feeling distressed during it.

After taking account of starting scores, the dancers finished with more positive views of their appearance and greater satisfaction with their bodies than the comparison group. They also worried less about their weight, and these differences were large. One measure did not move, as the effort students invested in their appearance stayed much the same in both groups.

The dancers also reported less social avoidance and less distress in company than students who did not dance. These differences were statistically significant, though smaller than those for body image. Scores in the comparison group did not change significantly, and no adverse events were recorded.

The classes taught beginner solo routines in the cha-cha and rumba, set by the Chinese DanceSport Federation. Students attended two 90-minute sessions a week, each with a warm-up, instruction, and a cool-down, led by the same instructor and building towards a final performance.

Latin dance asks people to move expressively in front of others, which resembles the situations socially anxious people dread, so repeated practice may make such moments feel less threatening. The study has clear limits. All participants came from one college, everyone knew who was dancing, and the comparison group received no classes or attention. There was no follow-up, so it is unclear whether the benefits lasted.

Earlier studies have found that exercise can ease anxiety and improve body image in students, and smaller dance trials have reported similar gains. This trial adds randomised evidence for female university students, though larger studies comparing dance with other group exercise are needed to show whether the benefits are specific to dance.

Ten weeks of Latin dance classes were linked to better body image and less social anxiety among female students in China.