This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cash, T. F. Articles by Chapman, R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Cash, T. F. Articles by Chapman, R. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Not Just Another Pretty Face

Sex Roles, Locus of Control and Cosmetics Use

Old Dominion University

John Rissi

Old Dominion University

Rees Chapman

Old Dominion University

Despite the voluminous literature on the physical attractiveness variable, little research has considered the psychosocial processes involved in self alterations of appearance (i.e., grooming behavior). The present study examined individual differences in a largely sex-specific facet of grooming, facial cosmetics use among women. Seventy-five female college students completed the Cash Cosmetics Use Inventory, which assesses the quantity and the situational-dispositional pattern of cosmetics use. Subjects completed personality measures of sex-role identity, sex-role attitudes, social self-esteem, and locus of control. Higher-quantity users were found to be more sex-typed on bipolar but not unipolar sex-role identity, somewhat more profeminist in attitudes, and less external in locus of control for achievement success. Women who were more situationally variable in their pattern of use did not differ in sex-role identity but were more liberal in sex-role attitudes and more internal vis-a-vis affiliative outcomes. These results are discussed in the context of sex-role theory, impression management, and new directions for a psychology of physical appearance.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. J. Lennon and N. A. Rudd Linkages between Attitudes toward Gender Roles, Body Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, and Appearance Management Behaviors in Women Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, December 1, 1994; 23(2): 94 - 117. [Abstract]

				J. E. Workman and K. K. P. Johnson The Role of Cosmetics in Impression Formation Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, September 1, 1991; 10(1): 63 - 67. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. K. Jones The Gender Difference Hypothesis: A Synthesis of Research Findings Educational Administration Quarterly, February 1, 1990; 26(1): 5 - 37. [Abstract]

				H. S. Friedman, R. E. Riggio, and D. F. Casella Nonverbal Skill, Personal Charisma, and Initial Attraction Pers Soc Psychol Bull, March 1, 1988; 14(1): 203 - 211. [Abstract]