AUTHOR=Atari Mohammad , Barbaro Nicole , Sela Yael , Shackelford Todd K. , Chegeni Razieh TITLE=Consideration of Cosmetic Surgery As Part of Women’s Benefit-Provisioning Mate Retention Strategy JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01389 DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01389 ISSN=1664-1078 ABSTRACT=

Individuals perform mate retention behaviors to minimize the risk of partner infidelity and relationship dissolution. The current study investigates whether consideration of cosmetic surgery can be conceptualized as part of a broader strategy of mate retention for women, but not men. We hypothesized that women’s consideration of cosmetic surgery would be positively associated with performance frequencies of Benefit-Provisioning and Cost-Inflicting mate retention behaviors. We recruited 203 individuals (54% women) in committed heterosexual relationships from Tehran, Iran. Results indicate a positive association between consideration of cosmetic surgery and Benefit-Provisioning mate retention behaviors for women, but not men. There was no association between consideration of cosmetic surgery and Cost-Inflicting mate retention behaviors. Women therefore may consider cosmetic surgery to improve their physical attractiveness as part of a Benefit-Provisioning strategy to retain a long-term mate. We discuss limitations of the study and highlight future directions for research from an evolutionary perspective.