Filters and fillers: Belgian adolescents’ filter use on social media and the acceptance of cosmetic surgery

ABSTRACT

This study examined whether adolescents’ use of (a) body and (b) face filters was related to acceptance of cosmetic surgery (ACS) (i.e. intrapersonal and social acceptance, and intention). Attention was paid to possible differences according to adolescents’ (1) sex, (2) self-esteem, and (3) pubertal timing. A cross-sectional online survey among 333 Flemish adolescents (M_age = 16.06, SD = 1.45) with 71.2% girls was used to test the hypothesized model via structural equation modeling. The use of face filters was positively linked to social motivations of ACS and consideration of cosmetic surgery. Body filter use was only linked to social motivations of ACS. Only girls showed a link between body filter use and social ACS. The findings underline the role of filter use in adolescents’ ACS.

Impact Summary

• Prior State of Knowledge: Research has shown that the use of social media filters increases individuals’ acceptance of cosmetic surgery (ACS). Yet, most research has focused on adults when investigating these relations. Little is known about how adolescents’ filter usage is linked to ACS.

• Novel Contributions: Our results underline the importance of looking at gender differences, distinguishing between different types of social media filters (i.e. face vs. body filters), and approaching ACS as a multidimensional construct by taking into account different reasons to consider cosmetic surgery.

• Practical Implications: Filter use played an important role in adolescents’ ACS, particularly in their perceptions on social benefits of cosmetic surgery. Practitioners developing intervention programs are advised to focus on enhancing adolescents’ cognitive skills to put especially these social benefits into perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• Social media
• cosmetic surgery
• filter use
• self-effects
• adolescents

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1. The study was part of a larger survey project “the Positive Body and Sex Project”. Data for this project was also collected at other times, in January 2020 (at school via paper-and-pencil surveys) and October 2020 (online at home). Note that only in October 2020, information about filter use was collected. For more information regarding this project, please contact the first author.

2. The datasets together with the syntaxes and outputs of the results are publicly available on OSF via https://osf.io/bnefs/?view_only=e7734f945a1e422aa8729628e8d5cd21

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Bijzonder Onderzoeksfonds under grant number [C14/18/017]; KU Leuven Belgium [C14/18/017].

Notes on contributors

Chelly Maes

Chelly Maes is a doctoral researcher at the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research (KU Leuven) under supervision of Professor Laura Vandenbosch. Her research mainly focuses on the possible positive role of entertainment fiction as a positive socialization agent for adolescents’ sexuality and body image.

Orpha de Lenne

Orpha de Lenne is a PhD Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research (KU Leuven) under the supervision of Professor Steven Eggermont, Professor Laura Vandenbosch, and Professor Tim Smits. Her PhD research focuses on how non-idealized models (e.g., average- or plus-size models) displayed in advertising content have an impact on the body image of young men and women.