12/13/07
Research has found that women are more likely to persist on using creams, supplements, and aesthetic fillers to look younger even if they feel that the products may not be working.
Professor Brett Martin of the University of Bath, UK, and Dr Rana Sobh, of Qatar University, studied 297 women aged 27 to 65 years and found that women who used these means to look younger were trying to avoid a "feared self"—an image of themselves they had of appearing wrinkled and old.
They report that when the women used the different products to look younger and did not see good results, their anxiety increased. However, as soon as the women saw results, their anxiety lessened and they stopped using the products.
The researchers also report that of those women who felt the treatments they were using were not working, 73% wanted to continue using them. Among the women who felt the treatments were working, 45% wanted to continue using them.
"How women imagine themselves in the future has a strong effect on how motivated they are to keep using a product or service such as creams or other treatments for aging," says Sobh. "When people dwell on a negative future, they are motivated by fear, yet as they move away from this feared state— say a wrinkled skin—they become less motivated to carry on using a product or service."
[www.medicalnewstoday.com, December 13, 2007]
