Does Society and Celebrities Affect Teen Appearance?

Significance

• Puberty can make an adolescent especially insecure about her body. Uncertainty about what your body's going to do next coupled with cultural ideals -- girls should have big breast and boys should have muscular biceps and triceps -- can be daunting. Dissatisfaction with hair, hips, noses, muscles and weight is common during the preteen and teen years. Teens might use celebrities as a blueprint as they try to improve their perceived imperfections. A teen might believe her hair will look fuller if she styles it exactly like a particular celebrity. Some teens are concerned about wearing the most fashionable clothes because they see TV or movie stars sporting them.

The Price of Perfection

• The cost of unattainable beauty is astronomical. Females spend $7 billion annually on cosmetics, according to figures provided by Austin, Texas-based Hoovers Cosmetics, Beauty Supply & Perfume Stores. The information was included in a YMCA report titled "Beauty at Any Cost." A teenage girl might run out and buy a particular brand of makeup because it appeared to give a celebrity flawless-looking skin or she might try a new mascara to enhance her eyes so they look bigger and brighter.

Cosmetic Procedures

• Cosmetic surgery is no longer reserved for women of a "certain age." In 2007, 91 percent of cosmetic procedures in the U.S. were performed on females, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Surgery. Some teens might already be contemplating plastic surgery to improve their appearance. Eighteen- to 24-year-olds are becoming increasingly interested in invasive cosmetic procedures. A 2008 ASAS survey found 69 percent of young adults 18 and older are in favor of cosmetic surgery. That's a 7 percent jump from 2006.

Concerns

• The pressure to look as good as possible can have negative consequences, according to the National Association of Social Workers. A teenage girl might lose an unhealthy amount of weight in order to be as thin as models and some celebrities. Fashion models weigh a whopping 23 percent less than the typical female, according to a report by the National Women's Health Information Center, Office on Women's Health.

About Boys

• Some might assume that teenage boys are nonchalant about their appearance. In reality, looking good is very much on the minds of many teen boys. Perhaps they want to be as buff as the muscular male celebrity standing next to a beautiful girl. A guy might think that if he starts lifting weights he'll catch the eye of a pretty peer or classmate.