The Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale: Initial examination of its factor structure and correlates among Brazilian adults

The present study conducted a preliminary examination of the psychometric properties of a recently developed Portuguese translation of the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (ACSS; Henderson-King & Henderson-King, 2005). A total of 311 Brazilian adults completed the ACSS along with Portuguese translations of measures of actual–ideal body weight discrepancy, body appreciation, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and demographics. Results showed that the Portuguese ACSS reduced to a three-factor solution consisting of the Intrapersonal, Social, and Consider factors uncovered in the original work using the ACSS. Moreover, there were only small sex differences on these subscales. In addition, the Portuguese ACSS showed a good pattern of convergent validity. The availability of the Portuguese ACSS is expected to stimulate more in-depth, quantitative research on attitudes toward cosmetic surgery within the Brazilian context.

Research highlights
► The recently developed Portuguese Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale (ACSS) can be reduced to a three-factor solution as reported with Western samples.
► The Portuguese ACSS shows a good pattern of convergent validity in relation to measures of body image, internalisation of appearance ideals, and self-reported body mass index.
► There are few sex differences in acceptance of cosmetic surgery among our sample of Brazilian adults.