DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL "ASSESSMENT OF SUBJECTIVE PERCEPTION OF EXTERNAL CONTROL"

In the modern conditions of socio-cultural pressure, there is an increase in concern about one's appearance. The influence of macrosocial factors, such as the stereotype of ideal appearance in the media, as well as social pressure on the perception of one's own appearance, is increasing. Existing methods for assessing attitudes to one's own appearance do not take into account the subjective role of appearance in personal life, popularity and career, as well as the relationship between the value of external attractiveness and other values that are conditions for self-realization and achieving well-being. The purpose of the study is to develop and test the method "Assessment of subjective concern about appearance". The factor structure of the method and internal validity were identified on a sample of 275 girls (M = 22.1 years; SD = 4.1). The test-retest validity was checked at two-week intervals on 72 fourth-year female students of the Psychology Department of Moscow State Pedagogical University (M = 22.3; SD = 2.2), and the external validity was checked on two groups of girls aged 18 to 30: an experimental group (144 girls who sought medical help at the Institute of Plastic Surgery and Cosmetology, M = 22.5; SD = 4.4) and a control group (164 girls studying at Moscow universities who did not seek medical help at medical centers with complaints about their appearance, M = 21.15; SD = 3.8), the satisfaction of which in this group is presented by the researchers as average. The questionnaire testing demonstrated sufficient reliability indicators, as well as test-retest and external validity. It consists of 38 statements and includes six scales, each of which reveals one of the spheres of influence of ideas about the ideal appearance and the importance of appearance for self-esteem, as well as self-attitude. The tested method can also be used for research purposes to assess the attitude of girls to their own appearance.