title: Appearance investment in Australian brides-to-be.
abstract: The present study examined the appearance concerns of 440 engaged women recruited from bridal websites across Australia. Participants completed a short online questionnaire incorporating measures of appearance investment, dietary restraint, and their pre-wedding beauty preparation plans. Overall, brides-to-be reported similar levels of both facets of appearance investment (self-evaluative salience and motivational salience) to normative samples. High appearance investment and dietary restraint were significantly related to a greater number of pre-wedding beauty, diet, and exercise regimes. Furthermore, pre-wedding plans were predicted differently by the two facets of appearance investment. Specifically, self-evaluative salience predicted wedding weight discrepancy, while motivational salience was a significant predictor of both appearance-related and exercise/eating behaviors. Results indicate that reducing the focus on appearance surrounding weddings and promoting a healthier bridal weight ideal may be useful in discouraging harmful appearance altering behaviors and attitudes (e.g., tanning, surgery, desire to lose weight) among women with high appearance investment.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. Ivanka.Prichard@flinders.edu.au
authors.forename: Ivanka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prichard
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiggemann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001315:Australia; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult