N pilot survey indicates 4% Utah County LDS women have had cosmetic surgery.
Joylin Namie, "‘In the world, but not of the world’: The paradox of plastic surgery among Latter-day Saint women in Utah," The Journal of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, & Letters 90 (April 12, 2013): 228-29
Quantitative data on attitudes towards plastic surgery among LDS women were collected through a survey administered in 2013 in person and via the U.S. mail. The sample consisted of 100 women who were practicing members of the Church. Respondents ranged in age from 19 to 81 years old, and the mean age was 36 years. Ninety-one percent currently lived in Utah, primarily in Utah County, and nearly two thirds (63%) had grown up in Utah. Most (64%) were married, for an average of 18 years. Levels of education ranged from high school only (15%) to some college (42%), a bachelor’s degree (31%), or an advanced degree of some kind (12%). Average annual household income was $48,000, lower than both the national ($50,502) and Utah ($55,869) median incomes (US Census Bureau 2011), and attributable to the number of respondents from rural areas of Utah County where incomes are lower. Only four women in the sample had had plastic surgery themselves, although 67% knew someone who was LDS and had had elective cosmetic surgery. Measures of religiosity were also part of the survey. Across the sample, women prayed on average twice each day, read scriptures five times per week, attended church once a week, and participated in one other church-related activity each week, results suggesting an average level of religious participation for Mormons in Utah (Hill et al. 2008). This small, convenience sample was intended as a pilot study and was relatively homogeneous in terms of income, reported levels of religious participation, and residency, limiting the ability to explore differences in attitudes towards plastic surgery related to class, religiosity, and between Mormons inside and outside of Utah. These areas will be the focus of future research. Given these limitations, several survey results reinforced themes from the qualitative data and will be mentioned here. Results from all aspects of the research are combined in the following discussion organized around the central themes initially identified in the interview data. In lieu of including a lengthy history and description of Mormonism, beliefs and practices relevant to the use of plastic surgery are instead woven into the discussion itself.