Social media exposure and young women’s cosmetic surgery intention: test mediation of capitalization of sexual attractiveness and body surveillance

The cosmetic surgery intention of young women has garnered widespread attention. It is significant to explore the predictive effects of social media exposure on young women’s cosmetic surgery intention and the underlying mechanisms. The Social Media Exposure Scale, Capitalization of Sexual Attractiveness Scale, Body Surveillance Scale, and Cosmetic Surgery Consideration Scale were used to measure 679 young Chinese women (age: M = 26.00, SD = 3.85). I adopted PROCESS Macro Model 6 to verify the study model. The results show that social media exposure positively predicts young women’s cosmetic surgery intention (β = 0.35, P < .001); capitalization of sexual attractiveness mediates the relationship between social media exposure and cosmetic surgery intention (Effect = 0.07, 95%CI [0.03, 0.11); body surveillance mediates the relationship between social media exposure and cosmetic surgery intention (Effect = 0.07, 95%CI [0.03, 0.11]); and capitalization of sexual attractiveness and body surveillance play a serial mediation role between social media exposure and cosmetic surgery intention (Effect = 0.03, 95%CI [0.01, 0.05]). This study provides a new perspective for understanding the relationship between social media and young women’s cosmetic surgery intention.