Our analysis consists of two parts. The primary analysis concerns the role different individual factors play in the consent process for women towards BA procedure. In particular, using the ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, we examine how individual characteristics such as age, height, weight, breast size, relationship status, offspring, education level, annual income, self-rated happiness, self-rated health, Big 5 personality traits, and socio-sexuality inventory correlate with participants’ 1) risk preferences for cosmetic augmentation, 2) willingness to recommend the procedure, and 3) understanding of the likelihood of future surgery, measured prior to treatment exposure (i.e., video monologues of the BA procedure risk information). This analysis helps establishing the baseline of the roles of different individual factors play in the BA consent process for women.
For the second part of the analysis, we investigate the effect of “risk/informed consent” information (presented in the form of first consultation using the video monologue) on women's risk attitude towards a BA procedure based on our experimental design. To do this, we first utilise the paired t-test to compare the two set of participants' responses to the three questions relating to the comprehension, risk preference, and perceptions of BA procedure, recorded before and after viewing the video monologue with the risk information. Overall (i.e., pooling four treatments) and treatment specific (i.e., receiving information on short-run risk versus long-run risk and between male and female surgeon presenters) results are presented. For example, comparing the changes in response between the “short” and “long” groups allows us to identify whether the exposure to differing levels of risk information affect risk assessment differently. Lastly, we again apply OLS regression analysis to examine whether the individual factors (i.e., age, education level, income, relationship status, offspring) correlate with participants' risk attitudes towards BA procedure after receiving the risk information.
For the second part of the analysis, we investigate the effect of “risk/informed consent” information (presented in the form of first consultation using the video monologue) on women's risk attitude towards a BA procedure based on our experimental design. To do this, we first utilise the paired t-test to compare the two set of participants' responses to the three questions relating to the comprehension, risk preference, and perceptions of BA procedure, recorded before and after viewing the video monologue with the risk information. Overall (i.e., pooling four treatments) and treatment specific (i.e., receiving information on short-run risk versus long-run risk and between male and female surgeon presenters) results are presented. For example, comparing the changes in response between the “short” and “long” groups allows us to identify whether the exposure to differing levels of risk information affect risk assessment differently. Lastly, we again apply OLS regression analysis to examine whether the individual factors (i.e., age, education level, income, relationship status, offspring) correlate with participants' risk attitudes towards BA procedure after receiving the risk information.
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