Most women are unhappy with their breast size, and it may have damaging health consequences

• A study that looked at 18,541 women from 40 nations around the world found that 71% are not happy with their cup size.
• 47% of women wanted larger breasts, and 23% wanted smaller breasts, the researchers found.
• The study authors said that women who feel insecure about their breasts may be less familiar with their bodies, and therefore less likely to check their breasts for lumps.
• This also has serious implications for young women's mental health, especially in light of rising rates of breast augmentations and body dysphoria.
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A lot of women are unhappy with their breasts. It's been a plotline in countless movies (A Chorus Line, Sixteen Candles, The To Do List); TV shows (Fleabag, Degrassi, iCarly), and books (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, The Princess Diaries).

It's clearly also a common theme in real life, considering breast augmentation is the most popular form of plastic surgery, and has been since 2006. Now a study of over 18,000 women has quantified that breast dissatisfaction, finding that women wish their breasts were bigger.

Nearly half of women in the study wanted larger breasts, 23% wanted smaller breasts, and just 29% were satisfied with their current breast size.

The results of this study reflect the rising rates of body dysmorphia and plastic surgery levels among young women, as well as the mental health issues that come with feeling physically inadequate.

Researchers in 40 countries asked almost 20,000 women about their breasts

To get a global picture of women's relationships with their breasts, Viren Swami, a professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in England, collaborated with researchers around the world to recruit 18,541 women from 40 different nations, with an average age of 34. 

The women were shown photos of different-sized breasts, and were asked to identify which size most closely matched their own and which size they would prefer to have. The researchers also asked how they felt about their weight, their overall physical appearance, and how much media they consumed. 

In Pakistan, which has the largest average breast size of the 40 nations surveyed, most women (49%) reported wanting smaller breasts. Out of all the countries surveyed, British women were the most dissatisfied with their breasts.

More women are turning to plastic surgery to go up a cup size

The ideal breast size varies by culture. Prior research found that Latin American women feel pressure to have big breasts, while in East and Southeast Asia, where women tend to have smaller breasts, breasts were less valued as a marker of femininity.

But in this study, researchers found that breast ideals were similar everywhere. Most women wanted breasts that were larger than what they had.

"The data suggests there is now a homogenized preference for larger breasts," Viren Swami, a professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in England, told Insider. "And women are experiencing dissatisfaction as a result of that."

It's no surprise given the decades-long rise in rates of women undergoing surgery to make their breasts larger, whether it's with silicone or saline implants. In the US alone, 313,735 women got breast augmentations in 2018, up 48% from 2000, the data shows.

"A lot of people do look through their newsfeeds and bring pictures to the plastic surgeon and say 'I want to look like this girl, I want boobs just like that,'" Instagrammer Sia Cooper previously told Insider. "I think social media can be a great tool but it can also be very bad. So my advice is to unfollow anyone who makes you feel bad about yourself."

Cooper, who got her breast implants removed, said she regretted getting them and wouldn't do it again.

"I would go back and tell myself to look at the root issue, and it's all mental," she told Insider. "You have to fix your mental state, and your relationship with your body, instead of jumping to have someone quickly alter it."

Women are often dissatisfied with their breasts due to social media and the pressure to look a certain way 

Times have changed since the 1990s, when Baywatch was one of television's most-watched shows, and Pamela Anderson's DD-sized breasts were an American ideal. "Since then there's been a lot of variance in the size of breasts on Western television," said Swami.

But other cultures still see bigger as better. "If you watch Latin American telenovelas now, you'll find that larger-breasted women are seen as more popular and more successful," said Swami, "but if their breasts are too large, they're seen as evil."

While the pop culture presence of people like the Kardashians and Cardi B show American culture still adores big breasts on tiny women, breasts that are too big are associated with hypersexuality and diseases like breast cancer.

Previous research shows that social media can be damaging to body image, especially for young women. In 2017, Instagram was named the worst app for young people's mental health by UCLA's Brain Mapping Center.

Researcher Jasmine Fardouly previously told Insider that "comparisons to attractive others on social media were particularly harmful because they put women in a more negative mood and made them feel worse about their appearance."

Women who feel insecure about their breasts may be less in touch with their bodies, and less likely to spot unusual lumps 

Women who feel insecure about their breasts may also not notice if something's wrong, the study authors suggested.

"Women with greater breast dissatisfaction seem to have less breast awareness in general," said Swami. "They aren't as aware of how the breast changes over time, nor do they have the confidence to detect those changes." 

For women who feel like their bodies aren't enough, "spending less time on social media is a key immediate strategy," Andrew Whalen, head of The Body Image Treatment Center, who was not involved in the study, told Insider. "Also, spending less time on photo-centric social media platforms such as Instagram would be a good start."

Read more:

Social media has turned the 'ideal' female body into something that's almost impossible to attain

Fitspiration is supposed to help people get healthy — but it's backfiring in a major way

Looking at Instagram for just 30 minutes a day can wreck your body image

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