Abstract
Introduction: The amount of research on the relationship between plastic surgery and psychological features, such as personality disorders and indexes of body image dissatisfaction, has increased significantly in the last years. Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine these psychological features among Italian patients who underwent aesthetic plastic surgery, testing the mediating role of the mass media influence on the relationship between them and the choice of aesthetic plastic surgery. The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire 4+ (PDQ-4+) and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) were administered to patients who underwent aesthetic plastic surgery (N = 111) and participants who had no history of aesthetic plastic surgical procedures (N = 149). Results: Results showed that aesthetic patients reported higher indexes of body image disturbance than controls. No significant differences between aesthetic participants and controls were found in all three cluster B personality disorders. Moreover, the effect of body image dissatisfaction on the choice to undergo aesthetic plastic surgery was partially mediated by the influence of mass media. Conclusions: In conclusion, the present study confirmed the importance of body dissatisfaction as a predictor of the choice to undergo aesthetic surgery and highlighted the influence of media messages regarding physical appearance.
Highlights
The amount of research on the relationship between plastic surgery and psychological features, such as personality disorders and indexes of body image dissatisfaction, has increased significantly in the last years
The aim of the present study was to examine psychological features (PDs and indexes of body image dissatisfaction) among Italian patients who underwent aesthetic plastic surgery procedures. The relationship between these psychological features and the choice to undergo aesthetic plastic surgery was tested in relation to the influence of mass media on one’s body perception
According to Sarwer and Crerand [3], this represents a new generation of research on the psychological aspects of aesthetic plastic surgery, because the main aim of every type of cosmetic surgery is to facilitate the psychosocial functioning of the patient by changing their body image [40]
Summary
The amount of research on the relationship between plastic surgery and psychological features, such as personality disorders and indexes of body image dissatisfaction, has increased significantly in the last years. Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine these psychological features among Italian patients who underwent aesthetic plastic surgery, testing the mediating role of the mass media influence on the relationship between them and the choice of aesthetic plastic surgery. The Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire 4+ (PDQ-4+) and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) were administered to patients who underwent aesthetic plastic surgery (N = 111) and participants who had no history of aesthetic plastic surgical procedures (N = 149). The effect of body image dissatisfaction on the choice to undergo aesthetic plastic surgery was partially mediated by the influence of mass media. The majority of female patients were aged 35 to 50 years old (42%), followed by 19 to 34 years old (25.4%), and 51 to 64 years old (25.2%) [2]
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