Effects of Perfectionism, Self-Presentational Motivation and Body Dissatisfaction of Female College Students on Cosmetic Surgery Attitude

Abstract

This study focused on cosmetic surgery attitude in female college students. This study reviewed the literature on perfectionism, self-Presentational motivation as individual personality factors and body dissatisfaction, and empirically examined the effects of these variables on cosmetic surgery attitude. The questionnaires were administered on 301 female college students. We performed a structural equation model analysis to verify our hypothesis. The results are as follows. First, although both self-oriented perfectionism and socially-prescribed perfectionism were not directly related to cosmetic surgery attitude, they had an indirect influence through mediation of body dissatisfaction. Second, both self-oriented perfectionism and socially-prescribed perfectionism were directly related self presentation motivation, but self presentation was not directly related to cosmetic surgery attitude. Therefore, there was no mediating effect of self presentation motivation in the effect of perfectionism on cosmetic surgery attitude. Finally, self presentation motivation was directly related to body dissatisfaction and body dissatisfaction was also directly related to cosmetic surgery attitude. These results indicate that perfectionism. These results indicate that personality factors and body images are important concepts for explaining cosmetic surgery behavior for appearance management. This paper concludes by discussing the study’s implication and limitations.