A study on perception of makeup behaviors of female middle and high school students

This study aims to identify perception of makeup behaviors of female middle and high school students and to provide the results as basic data for establishing their correct makeup culture. This study investigated 370 female students at middle and high schools in Gwangju using a self-administered questionnaire on their perception of makeup behaviors. Of 320 questionnaires collected, except for questionnaires with insufficient answers, a total of 306 questionnaires were finally selected for analysis. For data analysis, frequency analysis and crossover analysis were performed using SPSS v. 21.0 statistical package program after data coding and data cleaning process. The results showed that the female middle and high school students think makeup is not good for the skin, but they were wearing makeup to gain confidence in their appearance and feel self-satisfaction. In addition, most of them were wearing light colored makeup, and high school girls were feeling sense of difference more from friends who were not wearing makeup among their peers than middle school girls. For their perception of friends without any makeup and friends with full makeup, most of them answered that ‘they have no interest or do not want to imitate’, which indicates that adolescents have their own distinct individuality these days. This author expects that studies on development of educational programs for correct makeup behaviors of adolescents will be performed in the future, based on this study.