The Impact of Appearance Management Training, Work Status, and Plans After High School on Opinions Regarding Appearance at Work and School

The purpose of this study was to measure the effect of appearance management training, work status, and plans after high school on students' opinions about appearance at school and at work. A nonprobability sample of 132 high school juniors and seniors in a consumer education class were administered the Appearance Management Survey before and after appearance management training as part of a four-lesson life skills curricular unit. The Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test revealed that participants' opinions about appearance for school and work were significantly different before and after appearance management training. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed that work status and plans after high school did not impact opinions about the influence of appearance on school and work. Implications for life skills education, specifically appearance management, within career and technical education are discussed.