Growing Older and Staying Positive: Associations Between Diverse Aging Women’s Perceptions of Age and Body Satisfaction

Quality of Life in Female Users of Antiaging Cosmetic Products / Aesthetic Treatments

Aging is accompanied by physical changes, both at the physiological and appearance levels. The way people perceive these changes has important consequences in general health and quality of life (QoL). This study analyzed the relationship between sociodemographic variables, psychological variables, use of antiaging cosmetic products/ aesthetic treatments, and QoL. This cross-sectional study included a sample of 271 women, aged between 25 and 70 years old, users of antiaging cosmetic products and/or aesthetic services. Participants were assessed on psychological morbidity (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), appearance schemes (Appearance Schemas Inventory - Revised), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), perfectionism (Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale), self-perceptions of aging (Brief Aging Perceptions Questionnaire), and QoL (SF-12v2). Results revealed that being older and having a higher household income was associated with better QoL. The use of facial firming products, hair coloring products, and sunscreen was also associated with better QoL. Psychological morbidity and perfectionism contributed negatively to QoL, while household income contributed positively. Aging perceptions moderated the relationship between self-esteem and QoL. According to findings, intervention programs to reduce psychological morbidity, increase self-esteem, promote more adaptive patterns of perfectionism, and recognize the role of age perception are needed in order to improve women's QoL. The perceived influence of the usage of cosmetic products to prevent/minimize aging signs should be further explored.

Beauty perks: Physical appearance, earnings, and fringe benefits

While the existence of a beauty premium is documented for many labour markets, there has been no study on the association of attractiveness with fringe benefits. This is a significant limitation of the extant literature, since fringe benefits are increasingly acknowledged as an integral part of the employees' compensation, and a main indicator of job quality. Using the Canadian General Social Survey of 2016, the present paper examines how a self-rated measure of attractiveness associates with both labour earnings and fringe benefits. Employing a rich set of controls, no evidence for a beauty premium is found for men, while there is some evidence for a beauty penalty for women. However, attractiveness is found to positively predict the number of fringe benefits of both men and women. Therefore, at equal level of earnings, more attractive individuals appear able to secure higher quality jobs, as measured by the number of fringe benefits. The results, hence, suggest that the effects of attractiveness on labour market outcomes cannot be fully captured by a separate examination of earnings and the hiring process.