Abstract
In mainstream psychological literature cosmetic surgery is often conceptualised as a simple way of enhancing self-esteem. However, feminist writers have criticised this stance arguing that cosmetic surgery may be connected to social and political issues. Furthermore, some of these writers have used objects relations theory to argue that women might use their body as a container for psychological distress resulting from early childhood experiences. This study therefore investigated possible links between cosmetic surgery and perceived childhood experiences, interpersonal difficulties and depression. 178 participants completed a questionnaire which incorporated a parental background measure, an interpersonal difficulties measure, a depression measure and a measure of body image dissatisfaction and body altering methods (the latter identifying women who had cosmetic surgery and women who did not). The results overall indicated that there were no significant differences on any of the scales between women who had undergone and/or were planning cosmetic surgery and those women who had never had any cosmetic surgery and were not planning to. However, in an exploratory analysis significant results were found in relation to sexual interest, which showed that women who have had and/or were planning to undergo cosmetic surgery (as one group) scored significantly higher on loss of interest in sex than women who had never had cosmetic surgery. Implications of the results for theory, future research and practice are discussed.