Selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration in adolescents: the mediating roles of physical appearance comparisons and facial appearance concern

ABSTRACT

Selfie activity may contribute to the acceptance of cosmetic surgery in adolescents, although few empirical studies exist. Based on social comparison theory, this study examined the association between selfie behavior and cosmetic surgery consideration among Chinese adolescents and further tested the possible mediating roles of social comparison and facial appearance concern in this relationship. A sample of 537 adolescents (339 girls and 198 boys) were recruited voluntarily to complete questionnaires on selfie behavior, upward physical appearance comparison, facial appearance concern and cosmetic surgery consideration. Linear regression and mediation analyses were conducted. The results showed that selfie behavior predicted higher level of adolescents’ cosmetic surgery consideration. Moreover, this relationship was sequentially mediated through upward physical appearance comparison and facial appearance concern. These findings expand the existent literature by suggesting that selfie behavior may trigger upward social comparison in adolescents, which in turn increase their acceptance of cosmetic surgery.

KEYWORDS:

• Selfie behavior
• physical appearance comparisons
• facial appearance concern
• cosmetic surgery consideration
• adolescents

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation [31871110, 31800925].