Maternal and Paternal Influences on Young Swedish Women’s and Men’s Cosmetic Surgery Acceptance

Cosmetic surgery has become increasingly popular during recent years. In this study, we hypothesized that stronger parental pressure concerning appearance would be related to more cosmetic surgery acceptance in both women and men. We further expected that the link between parental attitudes toward appearance and acceptance of cosmetic surgery would be mediated by body ideal internalization and appearance-related social comparison. Participants included 277 male and female undergraduates in West Sweden (38% men, mean age = 22.42, SD ± 2.81). Results indicated that the hypothesized relationships were generally supported for men: Multiple mediational analyses showed that both paternal and maternal pressure regarding appearance predicted men’s greater acceptance cosmetic surgery, via mediation of appearance-related social comparison. For women, however, hypothesized relationships were less supported: Mediational analyses confirmed only a marginal effect between paternal appearance pressure and women’s endorsement of social motives for cosmetic surgery, via appearance-related social comparison. Thus, the findings point toward a role of parents, through the processes of appearance-related comparison, for young men’s cosmetic surgery acceptance. For young adult women, other sociocultural agents (e.g., media, peers) may be more important for the acceptance of cosmetic surgery.