Social influence on the desire to correct appearance among adolescents in Russia and other countries

Abstract

Objective. To determine the influence of social factors on the desire among adolescents from different countries to correct their appearance. Materials and methods. A survey of 1040 respondents (with an average age of 17 ± 1.0 years) was conducted. Of the respondents, 540 (51.9%) were high school students and 500 (48.1%) were medical university students. Of them, 566 (54.4%) were girls and 474 (45.6%) were boys. All respondents were divided into 2 groups: students from Russia (260 (52%)) and students from other countries (240 (48%)). Results. Every second teenager (50.9%) had complaints about appearance, and regardless of sex, the majority (56.3%) of them wanted to look like their idols. Media imposition of physical appearance standards caused respondents of both sexes to feel dissatisfied with their bodies (p = 0.08). Unsatisfactory evaluation of teenagers' appearance by relatives formed the desire for its correction, regardless of sex (p = 0.8). At the same time, the opinion of friends was more significant for girls than for boys (p = 0.04). Russian students were significantly more often dissatisfied with their body image compared to international students (p = 0.006). For them the negative assessment of their appearance by peers (p = 0.0001) and the inconsistency with the standards of physical attractiveness promoted by the media (p = 0.0000001) were of greater importance in the perception of their appearance. Conclusion. The most significant factors influencing the desire of adolescents to change their appearance were unsatisfactory evaluation by peers and inconsistency with the media’s standards of physical attractiveness. Key words: appearance correction; body image; teenagers; social factors