The peer judgment of physical and social attractiveness of male adolescent with facial piercing

Abstract

Physical appearance is an important issue for judging peers' attractiveness in adolescence. Even one detail can determine the perception of adolescent's physical and social appeals. Research indicates that piercing has become one of the most popular detail of physical appearance and people with piercing are perceived as more attractive. Therefore the placement of piercing is an important factor for these judgments. Accordingly, this study examined the importance of facial piercing in the judgments of peer adolescent physical and social attractiveness. Methods: Participants of the study were 148 6th grade students from two Lithuanian schools (78 males and 70 females, mean age = 12.32). One of 3 photos of the 6th grade male student was presented to each participant as a visual stimulus: in one picture the student had no piercing, in the second had lip piercing and in the third had an eyebrow piercing. The questionnaire was designed to assess participant's judgments about physical and social attractiveness of a student in presented picture. Results: The student without piercing or with an eyebrow piercing was perceived as more attractive physically compared to the student with lip piercing. The data showed no difference in evaluating social attractiveness of the student with lip or eyebrow piercing and the student with no piercing. Also, the results revealed no difference in judgments of any visual stimulus between boys and girls. However, data analysis showed that girls would like to communicate more with the student with eyebrow piercing compared to the student with lip piercing or without piercing. Conclusion: The adolescent with lip piercing tend to be judged as the most unattractive physically or socially by peers. Thus, the presence or absence of a piercing and the place of it can be an important factor for physical and social attractiveness perception in young adolescence.