Acceptance of cosmetic surgery in adolescents: The effects of caregiver eating messages and objectified body consciousness

Abstract

Cosmetic procedures are aimed at enhancing clients’ attractiveness by modifying their physical appearance. Women prefer cosmetic surgery more than men do, due to the ideal of leanness advertised by the media. Female adolescents, undergoing an emotionally unstable developmental stage, are particularly responsive to unrealistic beauty standards. The more they internalize cultural norms, the more they objectify their bodies. Young people’s views on their bodies are essentially influenced by the feedback received from their parents and other adults. The present study explored the impact of caregiver eating messages and objectified body consciousness on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery among Hungarian female students aged 14 to 19 years (M = 16.79, SD = 1.245). Self-report scales used to collect data in four secondary schools. The expected associations were tested with path analysis. Caregiver eating messages generally had an indirect positive impact on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery that was mediated by the shame component of objectified body consciousness. A direct impact was only shown by critical/restrictive caregiver messages and by the shame component of objectified body consciousness. The other two components of objectified body consciousness were unrelated to the acceptance of cosmetic surgery. In sum, caregiver messages on female adolescents’ appearance and eating habits have a formative role on their attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. Such messages predict their proneness to view their bodies as objects serving to meet certain beauty standards. The more they endorse such views, the more they are willing to consider cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance.

Self-objectification and cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese young women: The mediating roles of alienation and body image inflexibility

“…The results showed that self-objectification was correlated with cosmetic surgery consideration of young women, indicating that young women with a higher degree of self-objectification were more likely to use cosmetic surgery as a body image coping strategy. The finding was consistent with previous research results (Őry et al, 2023;Sun, 2018Sun, , 2021Vaughan-Turnbull and Lewis, 2015). The female college students in this study scored lower for their cosmetic surgery consideration than in other studies (Li and Xiao, 2023;Sun, 2021); this may be because males were not present during the measurement process of this study, which controlled for the effect of state self-objectification on cosmetic surgery consideration.…”

“…For example, researchers manipulated state self-objectification by leading female participants to believe they would be interacting with a man and confirmed that state self-objectification affects women's cosmetic surgery consideration (Calogero et al, 2014). In this study, self-objectification explained more variance for cosmetic surgery consideration than that in previous studies (Őry et al, 2023;Sun, 2018;Vaughan-Turnbull and Lewis, 2015).…”

Public Views About Cosmetic Procedures in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…In relation to the acceptability of cosmetic procedures in relation to age and gender, a substantial number of respondents expressed the viewpoint that age and gender should not serve as restrictive criteria. The aforementioned discovery suggests a transition towards a viewpoint that is more encompassing and equitable towards cosmetic operations, which is in line with current societal principles of self-expression and independence [25,26]. Nevertheless, it is crucial to take into account that public attitudes could fluctuate across diverse cultural contexts, and additional investigation is required to delve deeper into these processes.…”

Acceptance of Young Saudi Women to Undergo Cosmetic Surgery and Factors Influencing Their Decision

“…Thus, the media indirectly orient individuals toward the available surgical means of meeting unrealistic beauty standards. 12 This study was conducted to assess the level of acceptance of cosmetic surgery among young Saudi women as well as the factors influencing their decisions.…”