Factors that Influence the Decision to Undergo Cosmetic Surgery

Abstract

During the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cosmetic surgery procedures. This increase has in turn piqued the interest in the psychological aspects of this newly popular procedure.

The aim of the current study was to ascertain psychosocial factors expected to predict an interest in cosmetic surgery. For this purpose, we compared the results obtained by two groups of research on the following psychological variables: body images, self-esteem, appearance anxiety, subjective happiness, life satisfaction.  The first group (surgery group -SG) was composed of 72 participants recruited from a private plastic surgery clinic in Bucharest, Romania.  The second group (non-surgery group -NSG) was selected from the general population who are not willing to perform cosmetic surgery now or at any time soon. Individuals/participants were split into two homogeneous groups according to age, marital status, gender and education level. The data was analysed using correlation and multiple regression in order to identify any possible relationships between the variables, as well as find the best predictor for the likelihood of undergoing cosmetic surgery. 

Analyses revealed self-esteem, overweight preoccupation, body satisfaction, subjective happiness and marital status significantly predicted higher levels of self-reported of acceptance aesthetic interventions. Self-esteem and body image were the strongest predictors of cosmetic surgery motivation. This information can help elucidate the psychological characteristics of individuals who are interested into and looking for cosmetic surgeries and significantly focus upon the relevance of the preliminary interview for patient screening when it comes to cosmetic