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Retouched or Unaltered? That is the Question. Body Image and Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery in Young Female Instagram Users

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Abstract

Background

Viewing Instagram altered images of attractive women has negative effects on women’s body image. This study examined the effects of exposure to a ‘before’ and ‘after’ retouched image, in combination with a disclaimer, on female Instagram users’ thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and acceptance of cosmetic surgery.

Methods

An experimental design with a control group without pretesting was adopted. Participants (N = 105) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: Group 1 was exposed to a replica of an Instagram post with an enhanced image of a woman; Group 2 was shown the same enhanced image and the original one in combination with a disclaimer that the enhanced image had been digitally edited; Group 3 (the control) was exposed to a neutral image.

Results

The MANOVA showed that participants in Group 2 reported lower levels of thin-ideal internalization and acceptance of cosmetic surgery for social reasons compared to those in Group 1. Contrary to our hypothesis, the degree of body dissatisfaction was not significantly different among the three groups.

Conclusions

The present study could be promising for the development of brief interventions aimed at reducing the negative effects of Instagram exposure on young women’s body image.

Level of Evidence V

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

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Data availability

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

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Funding

The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence, Via di San Salvi, 12–Pad. 26, 50135, Florence, Italy

    Amanda Nerini & Camilla Matera

  2. School of Psychology, University of Florence, Via della Torretta 16, 50137, Florence, Italy

    Francesca Romani

  3. Department of Health Sciences, Section of Psychology, University of Florence, Via San Salvi, 12–Pad. 26, 50135, Florence, Italy

    Cristian Di Gesto & Giulia Rosa Policardo

Authors
  1. Amanda Nerini
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  4. Cristian Di Gesto
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Correspondence to Amanda Nerini.

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The Ethical Committee of the University of Florence approved the study procedures. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Nerini, A., Matera, C., Romani, F. et al. Retouched or Unaltered? That is the Question. Body Image and Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery in Young Female Instagram Users. Aesth Plast Surg 48, 1229–1238 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-022-03225-7

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