Effect of Sociocultural Attitude toward Appearance and Appearance Comparison on Appearance Management Behavior of Adolescents

Abstract

This study examines the effect of sociocultural attitude toward appearance and appearance comparison onappearance management behavior by adolescents. The study examines the differences of the effect relationshipsamong the three variables according to adolescents`` sex and school grade. The questionnaire was administratedto 575 middle school and high school students in Gwangju from September 2-8, 2011. Data wereanalyzed by descriptive statistical analysis, frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and regressionanalysis by SPSS for WIN program. The results were as follows. First, the sociocultural attitude towardappearance was composed of two factors: internalization and awareness. Adolescent``s appearance managementbehavior was composed of four factors: hair and style, face, weight, and neatness. There are significantdifferences on sociocultural attitude toward appearance and appearance management behavior by gender,age (girl/middle, boy/middle, girl/high, boy/high). Second, the sociocultural attitude toward appearancesignificantly influenced appearance management behavior with significant differences among groups. Third,the sociocultural attitude toward appearance significantly influenced the appearance comparison and thereare significant differences among groups. Fourth, appearance comparison significantly influenced appearancemanagement behavior with significant differences among groups. Fifth, the sociocultural attitude towardappearance mediated by appearance comparison statistically did not influence appearance management behavior.