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about beauty and attractiveness are more likely to consider cosmetic surgery procedures and desire a larger number of such procedures. This study also found that familial attitudes towards plastic surgery are deterministic for one’s acceptance of cosmetic surgery, but that friends’ attitudes were not predictive of individual attitudes. This study used the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery scale (Henderson-King and Henderson King 2005) and the results further validated this test. 14 Investigation of attitudes towards cosmetic surgery using objectification theory was done by Calogero et al. in “Objectification Theory Predicts College Women’s Attitudes Toward Cosmetic Surgery” (2010). Experiencing sexual objectification and body shaming by others is predictive of one having plastic surgery and suggests that women reflect on sociocultural expectations of attractiveness and beauty heavily. Objectification theory is demonstrated in interpersonal and social encounters and in media content that focuses on women’s bodies. This study found that the frequencies of experiences with sexual objectification and body shame were predictors of giving social reasons for accepting cosmetic surgery. This suggests that social evaluations of women are a driving force in the increased number of cosmetic procedures done and the greater acceptability of plastic surgery for this gender. Interpersonal and intrapersonal variables like negative body image, appearance-based self-esteem and body anxiety are linked to people’s attitudes towards cosmetic surgery and reveal deeper reasoning for acceptance of this once-controversial practice. A study done in Florida on college men and women by Menzel et al. entitled “Internalization of Appearance Ideals and Cosmetic Surgery Attitudes: A Test of the Tripartite Influence Model of Body Image” (2011) examined the role of body satisfaction, pressure to have cosmetic surgery and social appearance ideals internalization in relation to cosmetic surgery attitudes. The distribution of males and females was not equal in this study and had a 20 percent male to 80 percent female ratio. This study attempted to detect the level of body image concerns in men and to further understand formative influences of attitudes towards cosmetic surgery by using the Tripartite Influence Model of Body Image. This model examines the relationship between 15 eating disorders and body dissatisfaction by focusing on social comparison, internalization of appearance ideals and sociocultural influences. This study found an interesting difference between how social pressures operate on each gender and relate to male and female cosmetic surgery attitudes. Body dissatisfaction has a strong association with accepting attitudes towards cosmetic surgery in males. Females, however, experience social pressures that cause internalization of beauty ideals and that internalization is associated with positive cosmetic surgery attitudes. This work still claims that there are many paths for future research to be done in exploring college male attitudes towards cosmetic surgery and supports other findings regarding the attitudes towards cosmetic surgery in college females. VI. Data Collection Methods For my study, I conducted interviews of college students over the course of one week at the University of Mississippi, using the second floor study room of Burns Hall. Participants of this study had to be currently enrolled undergraduates at the University of Mississippi between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. This study population was selected because previous research done on this topic suggests that college students are more likely to consider body modification procedures like plastic surgery (Rodriguez Cano and Sams 2010) and are the main audience of extreme makeover or plastic surgery reality television shows (Wegenstein 2012). The data collected consists of responses from fifty-one participants. Questions at the end of the interview collected demographic information about age, gender and race and ethnicity of the participants. Participants were primarily from the United States, but four of the participants were international students who are currently enrolled at the University 16 of Mississippi. Ten of the participants were 18 years of age, eighteen participants were 19 years of age, seven were 20 years of age, nine were 21 years of age and seven were 22 years of age. Of the fifty-one participants, twenty-five identified as female, twenty-five identified as male and one identified as transgender female. In my analyses I included only data from respondents who identified as male or female, as I was uncertain whether the responses of the transgender woman might have been affected by her unique status as a transgender individual in a heteronormative society. Even numbers of interviews from male and females were conducted so that the collective responses of each gender could be compared equally. Twenty-seven of the participants identified as white, seventeen identified as black or African American, five identified as Asian or Pacific Islander, one identified as Biracial and one identified as other. The non-random convenience sample consisted of participants that were recruited by word-of-mouth. Initial participants were individuals whom I contacted because of common classes or other regular interactions. Those individuals then told
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