THE COSMETIC SURGERY CONSUMPTION: INFLUENCE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND MATERIALISM

The objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of self-esteem, the person's self-appreciation of his/her body, and materialism on the acceptance of cosmetic surgery (ACS), both in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and in Porto (Portugal), using a cross-cultural perspective. The concepts of self-esteem, body appreciation, materialism and acceptance of cosmetic surgery are revised. The main studies that guided the measurement of such constructs in this paper are the following: Rosenberg (1965) and Dini, Quaresma and Ferreira (2004) for self-esteem; Marsh and O'Neill (1984) for body appreciation; Richins (2004) and Ponchio and Aranha (2008) for materialism; and Henderson-King and Henderson-King (2005) and Swami et al. (2011) for acceptance of cosmetic surgery. Two samples were obtained, comprised of 217 and 148 respondents, from the cities of Sao Paulo and Porto, respectively. The main findings indicate that: (i) there is a gender effect - women accept cosmetic surgery better than men; (ii) there is a country effect - respondents from Sao Paulo accept cosmetic surgery better than those from Porto; (iii) there is no relationship between self-esteem and ACS; (iv) the association between body appreciation and ACS is weak; and (v) there is strong evidence that materialistic people accept cosmetic surgery better than those less materialistic.