ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the contemporary consequences of the search for beauty on the psychological and physical health of adolescent girls, including body image, achievement and affiliation conflicts, eating disorders, physical fitness, cosmetic caused acne, and breast surgery. The consequences of socializing girls to invest so heavily in their appearance will be considered first with respect to their psychological adjustment during adolescence, and then in relationship to their physical health. Adolescent girls need a good deal of support in handling the achievement-affiliation conflict. Restructuring one's body image to conform to pubertal changes, and developing a healthy sense of body satisfaction, are major challenges of adolescent adjustment. Physical fitness is related to beauty stereotypes and the new emphasis on athleticism is having both a positive and negative effect on the health of adolescent girls. Hence, the adolescent girl strives to adopt a stereotypic feminine image as reflected in prevailing beauty norms.
