Binge eating and dietary restraint: A cross-cultural analysis

Abstract

Investigation of binge eating and dietary restraint has previously been limited to subjects within Western societies. We investigated these two phenomena in 218 Arab students in Egypt, using the Restraint Scale (Polivy, Herman, & Warsh, 1978) and the Binge Scale (Hawkins & Clement, 1980). The psychometric characteristics of the scales were investigated. Although exploratory factor analysis showed support for the Restraint Scale subscales in women, no coherent factor structure was found for men. Factor analysis also revealed differing factor structures for men and women in the Binge Scale. The internal validity of the scales for men was also poor, thus the application of these two instruments to Arab men is questionable. A significant correlation of Binge Scale and Restraint Scale scores was found for both genders indicating support for the hypothesized link between the phenomena in a non‐Western culture. Further comparison of the Arab women's scores with those previously reported in Western studies showed a significantly lower level of restraint for the Arab women. We suggest that restraint theory is cross‐culturally applicable for women, although cultural factors may mediate the level of restraint shown.

The phenomenon of compulsive overeating in a selected group of professional women

“…The pur-Dietary restraint and disinhibition are two models that have gained popularity. Dolan & Ford (1991) found a sig-pose of this study was to describe the meaning of compulsive overeating, or binge eating, in the lives of adult nificant correlation between binge eating and dietary restraint (purposeful intake of food at below normal professional women, using a phenomenological method. levels).…”

Validation of the Arabic version of the binge eating scale and correlates of binge eating disorder among a sample of the Lebanese population

“…Older studies done in Egypt [17, 18] first showed evidence for BE, without reporting any prevalence rates. Other findings revealed that 82% of females and 76% of males (mean age = 20 years) had experienced at least one BE episode [19]. In Jordan, results showed that 16.9% of females (mean age = 13) reported BE and 1.8% were considered as suffering from BED [20].…”

How abnormal is the desire for slimness? A survey of eating attitudes and behaviour among Chinese undergraduates in Hong Kong

“…However, given the cultural relativism and the temporality of feminine beauty standards (Gar-ner et al 1980) and the fact that many Asian countries are undergoing rapid socioeconomic changes which bring with them pervasive advertising pressures and the adoption of ' Western' attitudes and habits, it is possible that the traditional stereotypes about affirmative Asian attitudes to fatness are not held to the same extent by Asian women today. Indeed, empirical evidence is increasing that fatness is no longer valued by young non-Western females who have been exposed to Westernization (Ford et al 1990;Dolan & Ford, 1991;Mumford et al 1991). In Hong Kong, too, it is now our common observation that greeting somebody with 'You have put on weight', which used to be regarded as a compliment among the older generation of Chinese (Lee et al 1989), may be considered an unpleasant if not offensive remark by the younger generation of females.…”