Neuroticism Level and Life Satisfaction in Women Undergoing Breast Augmentation Surgery (a Preliminary Report).

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to verify the relationship between the level of neuroticism and selected aspects of life satisfaction in women undergoing breast augmentation surgery.

METHODS: The study group included 109 women, aged 18-46 years, who completed the self-developed survey measuring selected psychological traits before and after (1 year) surgery. Four questions in this survey were related to the level of neuroticism and two pertained to the self-assessment of leading character traits and the level of life satisfaction. Three questions made up the lie scale.

RESULTS: The studied women were constant in their truthfulness. No statistically significant difference in the level of neuroticism before and after surgery was noticed. However, an increase in the subjective life satisfaction after surgery was highly significant (p < 0.001). Statistically significant negative correlations of neuroticism level with the self-assessment of positive character traits (rs  = - 0.236; p = 0.013) and life satisfaction (rs  = - 0.277; p = 0.004) were found before surgery. Also, a significant positive correlation was observed between neuroticism and the change in life satisfaction 1 year after surgery (rs  = 0.302; p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Breast augmentation surgery did not affect neuroticism level, which proves that constitutional personality traits in women undergoing such operations are not significantly influenced by a surgical intervention. However, neuroticism may play the role of a modulator of the psychological changes in women after breast augmentation (e.g., an increased postsurgical life satisfaction). The preliminary results obtained in our study should be confirmed on a larger sample size in the future.

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