This study investigated the concern and managing behaviors of women in old age for their appearance, and attempted to verify the positive effects on their social/mental health and lives by developing and applying a beauty therapy program that can impr...
This study investigated the concern and managing behaviors of women in old age for their appearance, and attempted to verify the positive effects on their social/mental health and lives by developing and applying a beauty therapy program that can improve the quality of their lives, The specific description of the purpose and method of this study is as follows:
First, after investigation of their satisfaction with their own faces, concern for their own appearance, appearance-managing behavior-related factors and actual conditions, and intent to participate in a beauty therapy program, the direct/indirect influence of those on the recognition of their own appearance by women in old age were estimated focusing on a path model.
The subjects of the investigative research were 397 women in old age over 60 living in Seoul and Gyeonggi, and questionnaire was carried out for five weeks from January 5 through February 10, 2010. For this study, frequency analysis, reliability analysis, factors analysis, One-way ANOVA, independent sample t-test and correlation analysis were carried out using SPSS 18.0 Software, and to estimate the direct/indirect effect on appearance-related recognition of women in old age, a path analysis was carried out using AMOS 16.0.
As research methods to achieve the goal of the study, through preceding bibliographical studies on women in old age, their concern for appearance, appearance-managing behaviors, and beauty programs, a research model suitable for this study was designed, and as the items of questionnaire for research on the investigation of actual condition, scales used frequently in the studies were quoted or used after adaptation.
Second, based on the questionnaire, a beauty therapy program for actual women in old age was formed and carried out, and the effect was empirically suggested.
The participants in the beauty therapy program were 22 women in old age over 60, and the education of the program to propose its effect was carried out in the class from April 9 through June 14, 2010 twice a week(90 minutes each time). In an experimental research related to the beauty program, to propose the effect of the beauty therapy program for women in old age, using Statistics Package SPSS 18.0, a frequency analysis was carried out, and to compare the difference between before and after their participation in the beauty therapy program for the 22 subjects in their self-esteem, satisfaction with their lives, mental health, concern for their appearance and appearance-managing behaviors, the Wilcoxon's Signed Rank Test was carried out.
The results of the research on the actual condition of their recognition of their own appearance are as follows:
As a result of investigation of their satisfaction with their own faces, concern for their own appearance, appearance-managing behaviors and intent to participate in a beauty program, it turned out that there are differences in their concern for their own appearance--‘concern for hair’ and their appearance-managing behaviors--‘hair behaviors,’ ‘skin care behaviors’ and ‘shape-managing behaviors’ by their age.
Especially, the older they were, the higher their ‘concern for their own hair’ got, and their ‘hair behaviors’ and ‘shape-managing behaviors’ got greater, and for ‘skin-managing behaviors,’ the lower they were, the higher their ‘skin care behaviors’ got. Regarding the differences in their satisfaction with their own faces, their concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors with or without their spouse, their appearance-managing behaviors--‘skin care behaviors’ appeared to be higher for the subjects with their spouse than those without. Regarding the differences in their satisfaction with their own faces, concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors by their school attendance, for their concern for their own appearance--‘concern for make-up’ and their appearance-managing behaviors--‘clothing behaviors’ and ‘shape-managing behaviors,’ the lower their school attendance level was, the higher their concern for make-up, clothing behaviors and shape-managing behaviors got. Regarding their satisfaction with their own faces--‘satisfaction with their faces,’ concern for their appearance--‘concern for their clothing’ and their appearance-managing behaviors--‘skin care behaviors’ by their income, it turned out that there were differences by the income.
There was no relation between their satisfaction with their own faces and appearance-managing behaviors, and it turned out that their satisfaction with their own faces affected their concern for their own appearance, which affected their appearance-managing behaviors, and their concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors affected their intent to participate in the beauty program, and the higher their concern for their own appearance was, the more the positive effect on their appearance-managing behaviors got while the higher their concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors were, the more the effect on their intent to participate in the beauty program got.
As a result of an assessment of the direct/indirect effect on the appearance-related recognition of the women in old age using the path model, their concern for their own appearance did not affect the relationship between facial satisfaction and appearance-managing behaviors directly; however, it affected their appearance-managing behaviors indirectly with the medium of their concern for their own appearance. While their concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors did not affect their satisfaction with their own faces and their intent to participate in the beauty program directly; however, they affected their intent to participate in the beauty program with the media of their concern for their own appearance and appearance-managing behaviors i