Media use and the tendency for cosmetic surgery among young Iranian women: A structural model

The present study was conducted to test the structural model of the effects of media use on young Iranian women's tendency toward cosmetic surgery, considering the mediating role of media pattern internalization, beliefs about appearance, and body image concerns.

The study design was a descriptive-correlational design performing the structural equation modeling method. In the present study, 325 female students of the University of Isfahan in the 2019-2020 academic year responded to the Media Consumption and Beliefs about Appearance Scales, Body Image Concerns Inventory, Sociocultural Attitudes to Appearance, and Compensatory Tendencies for Beauty and Fitness Questionnaires. Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation method were used for data analysis.  

The results of structural equation modeling showed that the fit indices of the model are good. Also, the results of the direct effects test using the maximum likelihood estimation method showed that all the direct effects of the model, except the effect of beliefs about appearance on the cosmetic surgery tendency, are significant (P˂ 0.01). Finally, the results of the indirect effects using the parametric bootstrap method showed that all the indirect effects of the model are significant (P˂ 0.01).

In general, the results support the importance of internalization of media patterns and body image concerns in the tendency of Iranian women for cosmetic surgery.