There’s nothing beautiful about bullying. So perhaps that’s why people who were either picked on or picked on others as a kid are significantly more likely to actively explore getting plastic surgery, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of Warwick in England examined around 800 adolescents in the UK, hoping to determine how their experiences with bullying, or lack thereof, affected their outlook on cosmetic operations.

 

The adolescents, who were between the ages of 11 and 16, were analyzed by the researchers to not only gauge the depth of any existing emotional problems, but their levels of self-esteem, both physically and psychologically.

They were also instructed to take established diagnostics, one of which is aptly titled the Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale.

The analyzed group, for the sake of clarity, included not only bullies and the bullied, but those who had had no bullying encounters.

Compiling their data, the researchers found that 11.5 percent of bullying victims had “an extreme desire” to undergo plastic surgery.

This compared to 3.4 percent of bullies, and less than one percent of those who didn’t encounter bullying in any form.