THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE, GENDER, AND RELATIONAL STATUS ON APPEARANCEMANAGEMENT

The appearance management behavior of 253 African-American, Caucasian- American, and Asian-American subjects was assessed in a field study. C ompared with prior research, appearance management was found to vary a ccording to gender and relational status. A main effect for culture wa s found, and culture was found to interact with both gender and relati onal status. African-American men engaged the longest in appearance ma nagement among the men, whereas African-American women engaged least a mong the women. Asian-Americans showed little difference in their dati ng and nondating appearance management relative to Caucasian-Americans , who showed greater difference between the two conditions. Difference s between dating and nondating appearance management were more complex for African-Americans: The women showed the most difference of all cu lture types between dating and nondating appearance management, wherea s their male counterparts showed practically no difference. Appearance management variance across cultures, social situations, and relationa l levels is attributed to cultural differences in general impression m anagement and perceptions of social situations.