The Use of corrective eyewear effect on the prevalence glasses stereotype

Abstract

Beauty standards are constantly changing over time for women, but specifically teen girls are mostly affected when it comes to these standards changing. These beauty standards are constantly confusing for teen girls and what has stayed constant is the glasses stereotype. This stereotype is explained as one with glasses being looked at as conventionally unattractive, more intelligent, and shy. My correlational study uses a mixed method survey on teen girls aged 14-18 from a suburban New York, predominantly caucasian high school to try and fill this gap. This study specifically looked at if one’s own use of corrective eyewear affected their perceptions of other people with glasses and their perception of themselves. A thematic analysis of the qualitative data was used and a statistical analysis for the quantitative data was also used. Those with corrective eyewear being tested were those who used glasses daily, contacts, and those who didn't wear glasses daily. Surprisingly it negatively affected their perceptions to actually see those with glasses more stereotypical. When asked questions about how they feel about wearing glasses most respondents felt that it negatively affected other people's perceptions of themselves. Those who didn't use corrective eyewear were still affected, but less than those wearing glasses. The original hypothesis was supported since the use of corrective eyewear did affect teens' perceptions, however, not entirely. It was hypothesized that the use of corrective eyewear would decrease the possibility of seeing this stereotype, after all it actually increased this possibility.