The Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale Confirma

Authors: Marko Jovic Marcos Sforza Milan Jovanovic Marija Jovic

Publish Date: 2016/06/15

Volume: 36, Issue: 4, Pages: 707-718

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Abstract

We examined the validity of the Serbian version of the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale ACSS HendersonKing and HendersonKing 2005 A total of 622 Serbian adults completed the ACSS along with Serbian translations of measures for the discrepancy between actual body weight and ideal body weight body appreciation sociocultural attitudes toward appearance and demographics Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to compare how different ACSS models fitted the collected data A threefactor model provided the best fit to the data relative to two and onefactor models The threefactor model had good internal consistency convergent and discriminant validity and nomological validity The ACSS seems to be a valid instrument for use in Serbian populations Our study will contribute towards better understanding of the acceptance of cosmetic surgery from a crosscultural perspectiveOver recent decades cosmetic surgery has become an important and challenging area in the continued expansion of plastic surgery The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reported an increase of 111  in cosmetic procedures from 2000 to 2014 American Society of Plastic Surgeons 2015 Similarly the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery recorded an increase of 84  in cosmetic procedures undertaken by its members in South Korea from 2010 to 2014 International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2014This increase in the prevalence of cosmetic procedures suggests changes in people’s attitudes towards cosmetic surgery Research in this area among Western populations appears to be well established and thriving HendersonKing and HendersonKing 2005 Swami et al 2009 Swami et al 2011 However little is known about attitudes toward cosmetic surgery among nonWestern populations Swami 2010 One of the possible reasons for insufficient understanding of nonWestern population attitudes towards cosmetic surgery may come from the lack of reliable and valid translated scales for assessment of such attitudes Swami 2010In studies conducted among Western populations authors have mostly used the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale ACSS HendersonKing and HendersonKing 2005 This scale is a multidimensional measure of various aspects of attitudes towards cosmetic surgery ACSS is composed of three subscales namely Intrapersonal Social and Consider The Intrapersonal subscale measure attitudes related to the selforiented benefits of cosmetic surgery The Social subscale evaluates social motivations for cosmetic surgery The Consider subscale measures the probability that a participant would consider having the cosmetic surgical procedure The ACSS has been used among Western populations in North HendersonKing and Brooks 2009 Menzel et al 2011 Park et al 2010 and South America Carion et al 2011 Neves et al 2012 Swami et al 2011 Europe Stefanile et al 2014 Swami and Hendrikse 2012 Swami et al 2009 and Australia Sharp et al 2014 Slevec and Tiggemann 2010With regard to the latent structure of the ACSS in their original work among adults living in the United States HendersonKing and HendersonKing 2005 suggested a threefactor solution but also noted that obtaining a total Acceptance score is acceptable Among Western populations the superiority of the threefactor solution for ACSS has been confirmed in a study based on confirmatory factor analyses CFA undertaken in Italian women Stefanile et al 2014 Similarly the basic pattern of results was supported in Brazilian adults Swami et al 2011 after exploratory factor analyses EFAResearch using the ACSS appears to be extensive but only few studies have administered the ACSS in nonWestern populations Swami 2010 Swami et al 2012 Tam et al 2012 Moreover to the best of our knowledge the factor structure of the ACSS has been examined only in Malaysia Swami 2010 and South Korea Swami et al 2012 In these two studies a twofactor solution was supported after EFA In the Malay version of the ACSS the first factor comprises the original Consider subscale while the second factor is represented by a combination of the original Intrapersonal and Social subscales Swami 2010 Unlike previous work in the South Korean version of the ACSS the Consider subscale was different from the original one as it included a number of items from both the Social subscale and the Intrapersonal subscale Swami et al 2012 Based on the high correlation between the two extracted factors and high internal consistency of an overall score of all 15 ACSS items the authors suggest that the total Acceptance score be used in the Malay and South Korean context Swami 2010 Swami et al 2012 Among nonWestern populations CFA have not been performed to corroborate the original structure of the ACSSAs a contribution toward better crosscultural understanding of attitudes towards cosmetic surgery we investigated acceptance of cosmetic surgery and its correlates in a Serbian context Serbia is not identified as part of “the West” but is an example of a country where cultural influences mix and where making the usual distinction between “Western” and “Eastern” cultural cores is not possible Lazic 2003 Exploring populations with Western and Eastern cultural influences would be one way of extending findings previously publishedFocusing on nonWestern populations is important to better understand the crosscultural differences in attitudes toward cosmetic surgery and the reasons for considering cosmetic surgery Swami et al 2011 For example Swami et al Swami 2010 Swami et al 2012 noted that among Eastern women social reasons are as important as internal reasons with respect to acceptance of cosmetic surgery This observation is in contrast to information from Westernbased studies whereby intrapersonal reasons tend to be dominant in regard to acceptance of cosmetic surgery HendersonKing and HendersonKing 2005 Swami et al 2011

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