Factors Affecting Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery as a Health Risk Behavior in Iranian Women: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Traditional Gender Role Attitudes and Body Image

Objectives: the present study aimed to design and test a model of factors affecting the acceptance of cosmetic surgery in Iranian female students. Methods: a sample of 600 female students, ages 18 to 35, were selected from Kharazmi university by using cluster random sampling. The participants completed a set of questionnaires including " the short version of Attitude toward Women Scale (AWS) ", " the Beliefs About Appearance Scale(BAAS) ", " Body Areas Satisfaction Scale (BASS) ", " the Body Image Coping Strategies Inventory(BICSI)", " Rhinoplasty outcome evaluation (ROE) ", The Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (ACSS). A structural model was Used to examine the relationships among research variables. Result: results showed a good level of fit to the data and proposed that gender roles attitudes can facilitate cosmetic surgery in women by mediator roles of dysfunctional appearance beliefs, body dissatisfaction, coping strategies and outcome expectancy. Discussion: the study highlights the importance of traditional gender roles attitudes in body dissatisfaction and cosmetic surgeries among Iranian women. Indeed, traditional gender roles attitudes can pressure women to be conformity with beauty standards and follow the cosmetic procedures. This can expose them with risks and unwanted consequents. Therefore, it should be attention more in the future research and prevention programs.