Shows Correspond With Increased Body Anxiety

These are a few of the TV shows that have examined, and promoted, the benefits of plastic surgery in recent years. University of Southern California professor Julie Albright believes the shows are driving women to go under the knife to conform to a heightened definition of beauty, one that is increasingly difficult to attain.

The number of 18-year-olds who underwent breast-implant surgery nearly tripled from 2002 to 2003. There has been a 444% increase in plastic surgery since 1997. Over 90% of all plastic surgery is performed on women. Americans spent approximately $12.4 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2006.

At the very least, these shows act as an advertisement for the plastic surgery industry, Albright says. At the most these shows impose unrealistic beauty standards that make people question their own bodies while giving them an instruction manual on how to change their appearance.

Many of the findings were the same for the two different geographical and socioeconomic areas of the country where the survey was conducted.

But there were some notable differences. Students in Buffalo, whose parental income average $70,000, had more body anxiety than the L.A. students, whose parental income averaged $100,000. While the L.A. students felt their "problem" body parts were a moral failing, the Buffalo students believed their body issues could keep them from achieving success, Albright said.

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