Study title

Everyday Life and Physical Appearance 2016

Dataset ID Number

FSD3499

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3499

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Koivula, Aki (University of Turku)
• Kukkonen, Iida (University of Turku)
• Sarpila, Outi (University of Turku)

Abstract

The survey charted the role of physical appearance in the respondents' everyday life as well as more generally in Finnish society. The survey was conducted as part of the 'Finland as an appearance society: A population level study of values, attitudes, norms and their changes' research project. The survey continues to study the topics of the Everyday life and Well-being survey collected in 2011.

First, the respondents' consumer habits were examined with questions on how often they had bought products related to physical appearance (e.g. clothes, makeup, perfume) in the past 12 months and whether they had bought any of the products from an online store. The respondents were also asked if they had, for example, ever got a piercing or a tattoo, been on a diet, or used workout supplements. The next questions surveyed the importance of physical appearance to the respondents, how the respondents would evaluate their own appearance when compared to their peers, and whether they had received positive or negative comments about their appearance at different points of their lives. Additionally, the respondents were asked whether they thought their appearance had had a positive or negative effect on different elements of their lives (e.g. finding a partner, getting a job, overall satisfaction in life). Various statements related to physical appearance, such as whether the respondents thought they took good care of their appearance, often took pictures of themselves, and had good posture, were also included in the survey.

Views on the significance and role of physical appearance in Finnish society were examined next. The respondents were asked to what extent they approved or disapproved various actions, such as exercising to achieve better physical appearance or consciously taking advantage of good looks to get a job, when done by men or women. For these questions (20 and 21), the respondents were divided in half using the split ballot method so that half of the respondents were presented with statements about women and half with statements about men. Next, the respondents' media use was examined. Questions included, for example, how often the respondents watched TV, read books or used the Internet, and for what purposes they used the Internet and how often (e.g. email, online shopping, social media). Finally, the respondents' well-being and perceived social status were charted. The respondents were asked how they would describe their happiness, satisfaction in life, health, and self-esteem, how often they met other people during their leisure time, and how often they were in contact with others through the Internet. The respondents' perceived social class and hobbies were also surveyed.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's year of birth, gender, economic activity and occupational status, level of education, household size, income, and occupation (ISCO-08 classification). Additionally, the occupation of the respondent's spouse/partner and the level of education of the respondent's parents and the parents of their spouse/partner were charted.

Keywords

Internet; leisure time; mass media use; personal identity; self-esteem; shopping; well-being (health)

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• General health and well-being (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social conditions and indicators (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Koivula, Aki (University of Turku)
• Kukkonen, Iida (University of Turku)
• Sarpila, Outi (University of Turku)

Funders

• Emil Aaltonen Foundation

Time Period Covered

2016

Collection Dates

2016-04-15 – 2016-04-29

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

People aged between 15-74 living in Finland

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Simple random

The targeted survey was sent by post to 4,000 people aged between 15-74 who were living in Finland and whose mother tongue was Finnish. The sample was drawn with simple random sampling from among the population register maintained by the magistrate of Southwest Finland. The final number of respondents was 1,600. Two iPads were raffled among the participants.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

40

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, the researcher removed the variable denoting the respondent's municipality of residence from the data. Additionally, variables q07 denoting household size and q24 denoting number of followers on social media were categorised at FSD.

Open-ended responses are not included in the data.

Weighting

The data contain a weight variable which weights the data to be representative of the population in terms of age and gender. The weighting coefficient was calculated for each 15-69-year-old respondent separately for year of birth and gender. The weight variable should be used especially when analysing frequencies.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Koivula, Aki (University of Turku) & Kukkonen, Iida (University of Turku) & Sarpila, Outi (University of Turku): Everyday Life and Physical Appearance 2016 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2023-01-10). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3499

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Sarpila, Sandell, Koivula, Kukkonen (2016) Working Papers in Economic Sociology: Arkielämä ja ulkonäkö -kyselyn tutkimusseloste. https://www.utu.fi/sites/default/files/public:/media/file/Arkiel%C3%A4m%C3%A4_ja_ulkon%C3%A4k%C3%B6_kyselyn_tutkimusseloste.pdf. Viitattu 18.1.2023.

Related Publications

Sarpila, Outi & Sandell, Roosa & Koivula, Aki & Kukkonen, Iida (2016). Working Papers in Economic Sociology: Arkielämä ja ulkonäkö -kyselyn tutkimusseloste. Turun yliopisto, sosiaalitieteiden laitos.