Investigations on the relationship between perfectionism and psychological needs with the perception of body image in cosmetic surgery applicants

Abstract

Physical appearance is an important part of the body image because it is the first source of information which others use it for social interactions with that individual. Every year tens of thousands are doing cosmetic surgery in order to eliminate dissatisfaction with their appearance and sometimes to increase self-esteem. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between perfectionism and psychological needs with the perception of body image in cosmetic (plastic) surgery applicants. Research population consists of all the men and women who were applicants for cosmetic surgery and had recourse to beauty clinic of Imam Khomeini hospital, Tehran, Iran. 200 individual samples were selected by availability sampling method. The method of this paper was descriptive-analytical and data collection is done using questionnaire. data were analyzed using SPSS. Results showed that there was a relationship between perfectionism and psychological needs with the perception of body image of cosmetic surgery applicants. Psychological and perfectionism needs and also the perception of body image of women are different from men's. In addition, the negative characteristics of perfectionism have a larger share in cosmetic surgery applicants' prediction of body image perception.