The effect of social network sites on adolescents’ appearance investment and desire for cosmetic surgery

Although adolescents frequently use social network sites (SNS), little is known about whether the highly visual and self-presentation-centered character of such sites affects body-related outcomes. The first aim of the current study was to investigate the causal direction of the relationship between SNS use and appearance investment among adolescents. Given evidence of a relation between appearance investment and cosmetic surgery, the second aim was to test if SNS use indirectly affects adolescents’ desire to undergo cosmetic surgery through appearance investment. The third aim of the current study was to test if these relationships were more apparent among girls. We used data from a two-wave panel study among 604 Dutch adolescents (aged 11-18). Structural equation modeling showed that, among both adolescent boys and girls, SNS use and appearance investment reinforced each other. SNS use indirectly augmented adolescents’ desire to undergo cosmetic surgery through increasing appearance investment.