Summary: New research unveils the powerful influence of social media on young women’s views towards cosmetic surgery. The study, surveying 238 young women, found regular social media users more likely to be self-critical and open to cosmetic procedures.
A concerning 54% of participants considered undergoing cosmetic surgery in the future. The research emphasizes the urgent need for realistic body image promotion on popular platforms.
Key Facts:
- Among the 238 Australian women surveyed, 16% had undergone cosmetic surgery, and over half (54%) would contemplate having it.
- The study pinpointed a correlation between high social media use and acceptance of cosmetic surgery, with over-identification of perceived flaws as the primary predictor.
- Despite the popularity of cosmetic procedures, under 40% of women felt satisfied with their bodies post-surgery.
Source: University of South Australia
When Kylie Jenner famously admitted that her signature pout was the result of lip fillers, there was a significant increase in interest and uptake of the cosmetic procedure. That’s the power of social media.
But why is social media so persuasive and what is driving young women’s attitudes to cosmetic surgery?
In a new University of South Australia study, researchers have explored just this, finding that young women who regularly engage with social media were excessively self-judgemental and more likely to consider cosmetic surgery.
The study of 238 young Australian women (aged 18-29) also identified that 16% of women had already received cosmetic surgery and that more than half (54%) would consider having it in the future. Only 31% said that they would not undertake surgical cosmetic procedures.
Cosmetic surgery has become an increasingly popular way to change a person’s appearance. From 2010 to 2018, cosmetic procedures and surgeries almost doubled from 117,000 to more than 225,000. Today, almost seven million Australians (38% of the adult population) are considering cosmetic surgery in the next 10 years.
UniSA researcher and PhD candidate, Lauren Conboy, says the study highlights the profound and concerning impacts of social networking sites on young women’s body perceptions and attitudes to cosmetic surgery.
“The prevalence of body dissatisfaction among young women has long been a pervasive issue, with social media promoting unattainable beauty standards,” Conboy says.
“In Australia, young adults are among the greatest users of social networking sites, so their exposure to unrealistic body ideals is high. Not surprisingly, the increase in social media use has been accompanied by an increase in young women having cosmetic surgery.
“In this study we investigated how self-compassion might alter this relationship so that we can understand what we can do to influence positive psychosocial wellbeing.
“Self-compassion is a about accepting flaws with neutrality. When we have positive self-compassion, we are kinder and more understanding towards ourselves; but when we have negative self-compassion we tend to overestimate and criticise our flaws.
“Our study found that cosmetic procedures were well accepted among young women, and that a higher use of social media correlated with a higher acceptance of cosmetic surgery.
“Specifically, we found that young women who over-identify with personal attributes that they believe are not attractive, are more likely to feel bad about themselves and despite recognising this, can’t seem to break away from these negative thoughts. Over-identification was the most important predictor of positive attitudes towards cosmetic surgery.”
Co-researcher, UniSA’s Dr John Mingoia, says more must be done to help young women from striving for unrealistic and potentially harmful body images as portrayed on social media.
“Social networking sites are clearly a pervasive mode of comparison and body dissatisfaction for young women; however, due to their extreme popularity, they present an opportune platform to disseminate messages that may counter potentially harmful appearance-related content,” Dr Mingoia says.
“Research tells us that even after women get a cosmetic procedure, less than 40% are satisfied with their bodies post-surgery.
“Clinicians need to test and confirm the psychosocial safety of young women who are possibly influenced my media representations of beauty, before they go ‘under the knife’.
“If young women continue to access cosmetic surgery without addressing underlying self-compassion concerns, they may never feel content in their own body.”
About this psychology and body image research news
Author: Annabel Mansfield
Source: University of South Australia
Contact: Annabel Mansfield – University of South Australia
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Social Networking Site Use, Self‑Compassion, and Attitudes Towards Cosmetic Surgery in Young Australian Women” by Lauren Conboy et al. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science
Abstract
Social Networking Site Use, Self‑Compassion, and Attitudes Towards Cosmetic Surgery in Young Australian Women
This study aimed to explore the relationship of total social networking site (SNS) use and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery in young Australian women through the moderating role of self-compassion.
Recent research has identified the potentially protective factor of self-compassion in body image concerns; however, few researchers have further explored the components of self-compassion in relation to SNS use. As such, the positive (self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness) and negative (self-judgement, isolation, and over-identification) components of self-compassion were further investigated.
The present study utilised a cross-sectional correlational design with self-reported data to determine if self-compassion moderated the relationship between SNS use and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. A sample of 238 young Australian women, aged 18 to 29 (M = 22.1, SD = 2.9), were recruited.
Participants completed an online questionnaire measuring total daily SNS use, self-compassion, and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. SNS use was significantly negatively correlated with self-compassion and positively correlated with cosmetic surgery.
Self-compassion was significantly negatively correlated with attitudes towards cosmetic surgery; however, contrary to expected, self-compassion was not a significant moderator of SNS use and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery.
The components of self-compassion were further explored to better understand this relationship, with over-identification significantly predicting more positive attitudes towards cosmetic surgery. The present study highlights the relationship between SNS use and attitudes towards cosmetic surgery.
As over-identification relates to ruminating in feelings of discomfort, the results may suggest that SNS users who are more likely to fixate on their appearance dissatisfaction are more likely to have positive attitudes towards cosmetic surgery.
Given the popularity of SNS use, this media may pose as an opportune platform to disseminate appearance modification interventions for young adult women.
Future research that is causational in nature may be able to confirm these suggested implications.
