Benefits of being good looking (BBGL): development and psychometric evaluation

Recent figures estimate that in the United States in 2005 there were more than 10.2 cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures performed. As this reflects a marked increase in the rates of such procedures, researchers have started to look at the processes that lead individuals to undergo them. One possibility is that these individuals believe that the benefits gained in a ‘good-looking’ appearance will exceed those of purely physical change. Therefore, beliefs about this area are important when working out what motivates individuals to undergo these procedures. Presently there is no scale available to measure beliefs about the attributes believed to be associated with good-looking people in general. Thus, a measure of people’s attitudes towards the benefits of being good-looking (BBGL) was developed and evaluated on a sample of 150 female university students. In study 1, exploratory factor analyses determined the BBGL’s underlying structure, which resulted in the identification of 4 factors; social and sexual confidence, intrinsic skills, interpersonal benefits and emotional and physical well-being. Study 1 also demonstrated that the instrument had strong internal consistency and construct validity. Study 2 provided preliminary evidence that the BBGL total score was stable over an 8 week period. The BBGL should prove useful for researchers interested in assessing people’s attitudes to the benefits of being good-looking.