Body images, body-size perceptions, and eating behaviors among African-American and white college women

Rucker, Clifford E.; Cash, Thomas F.

doi:10.1002/1098-108x(199211)12:3<291::aid-eat2260120309>3.0.co;2-a

Cited by 368 publications

(252 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…For example, higher rates of such behaviours have been found in white women when compared to black andaor Asian women, in terms of bulimic behaviours, 1 generalised disordered eating 2,3 and body dissatisfaction and eating concerns. 4,5 However, in direct contrast, other studies report the reverse relationship between ethnicity and weight concern. For example, Mumford et al 6 reported results from a school in the north of England which indicated that the prevalence of bulimia nervosa was higher amongst Asian schoolgirls than their white counterparts.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Explaining the effect of ethnic group on weight concern: finding a role for family values

Ogden

Chanana

1998

Int J Obes

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OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of ethnic group on aspects of weight concern and to assess the role of family values in explaining this association. SUBJECTS AND MEASURES: 20 Asian and 20 white daughters gave a questionnaire to their mother, father and sibling closest in age, concerning their pro®le characteristics (age, education) values and beliefs and completed a matched questionnaire containing additional measures of aspects of their weight concern. RESULTS: The results showed no differences between the white and Asian daughters in terms of either their restrained eating or body dissatisfaction. However, the results showed consistent differences between the members of the two family groups in terms of the value placed on achievement, childaparent relationships, competition, the role of women, and some differences in terms of materialism, the value of appearance and their idea of the perfect female body. The results were then analysed to assess the best predictors of the daughter's weight concern. Whereas restrained eating was related to the mother's rating of the value of physical appearance and the sibling's ratings of competitiveness and a non-traditional role for women (40% of the variance), the results showed that body dissatisfaction was related to the daughter's rating of materialism, having a father who preferred a thinner female body, the siblings ratings of a non-traditional role for women, degree of concordance within the family concerning the value of competitiveness and the educational level of the`head of the family' (49% of variance). CONCLUSION: Whereas a dichotomous model of ethnicity may be insuf®cient to explain differences in aspects of weight concern, an expanded model of cultural beliefs may be a more powerful construct. Accordingly, the absence or presence of differences in weight concern according to ethnic group may simply re¯ect the extent to which the different groups chosen for analysis are differentiated by these predictive values.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Explaining the effect of ethnic group on weight concern: finding a role for family values

Ogden

Chanana

1998

Int J Obes

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“…On the one hand, adults in their achievement-oriented communities strongly emphasize excellence at school, and on the other hand the media, and often the peer group, convey powerful messages that to display high intelligence or academic competence is "non-feminine" and thus undesirable. Additional stressors may derive from high concern with personal appearance (Luthar & Feldman, 1999;Pipher, 1994), as preoccupation and dissatisfaction with their physical appearance tend to be particularly pronounced among young Caucasian women (Abrams, Allen, & Gray, 1993;Cash & Henry, 1995;Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1984;Rucker & Cash, 1992). In future research, there is clearly a need for systematic inquiry into the diverse sources of stress that are potentially unique to this subgroup of adolescent girls.…”

Section: Gender Differences In Associationscontrasting

confidence: 50%

Contextual factors in substance use: A study of suburban and inner-city adolescents

1999

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Objectives in this research were to examine contextual differences in correlates of substance use among high school students. The focus was on two broad categories of adjustment indices: personal psychopathology (internalizing and externalizing problems) and behaviors reflecting social competence (academic achievement, teacher-rated classroom behaviors, and peer acceptance or rejection). Associations between drug use and each of these constructs were examined in two sociodemographically disparate groups: teens from affluent, suburban families (n = 264), and low socioeconomic status adolescents from inner-city settings (n = 224). Results indicated that suburban youth reported significantly higher levels of substance use than inner-city youth. In addition, their substance use was more strongly linked with subjectively perceived maladjustment indices. Comparable negative associations involving grades and teacher-rated behaviors were found in both groups, and among suburban males only, substance use showed robust positive associations with acceptance by peers. Results are discussed in terms of developmental perspectives on adolescent deviance, contextual socializing forces, and implications for preventive interventions and treatment.Substance use among American adolescents has remained at alarmingly high levels across the last several decades (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 1998). Epidemiological research indicates that after years of general decline, use of alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, and other drugs by teens escalated around 1990, and has yet to resume a significant downward trend (McMahon & Luthar, in press).Feelings of subjective inner distress are frequently implicated in adolescents' use of substances, as indicated by the frequent co-occurrence of chemical dependency disorders with other psychiatric diagnoses (Anthony, Warner, & Kessler, 1994; Warner, Kessler, Hughs, Anthony, & Nelson, 1995). Among youth in treatment for substance abuse, researchers have established that between 25 and 50% have at least one comorbid psychiatric diagnosis of a major depressive disorder (Bukstein, Glancy, & Kaminer, 1992;Deykin, Buka, & Zeena, 1992;Stowell & Estroff, 1992).Aside from affective disorders, anxiety disorders constitute another category of disturbed affect potentially implicated in adolescent substance use, although evidence in this regard has been less consistent. Results of a recent epidemiological study showed that whereas depression in youth served as a risk factor for substance use, anxiety symptoms did not (Costello, Erkanli, Federman, & Angold, in press). By contrast, Christie et al. (1988) reported a doubling of risk for subsequent drug use disorder in young adults who had an earlier disorder in either the anxiety or depressive categories. Daily cigarette smoking has also been found to be linked with an increased risk for anxiety disorders (Kandel et al., 1997), and the use of street drugs was reported to be a significant factor in discriminating between high-versus low-anxiety adolescents (Bern...

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“…This is consistent with meanings of body weight and shape in non-western 6 and black 19 women, and with local Zulu custom which has traditionally valued plumpness as a sign of wellbeing; while thinness has been associated with illness, stress or deprivation. Traditional rituals of purging (vomiting and laxative use) were also identified as culturally sanctioned forms of remediation for a wide range of physical and psychological maladies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Meanings of thinness and dysfunctional eating in black South African females: A qualitative study

Morris¹,

Szabo²

2013

Afr. J. Psych

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Objective: This study qualitatively explored local meanings of thinness and dysfunctional eating in black adolescent females in the rapidly westernizing socio-cultural context of post-apartheid South Africa. Method: Four (n=4) urban state highschools in KwaZulu-Natal were selected from which 40 subjects were sampled from Grades 9-12. Focus groups were conducted following a semi-structured interview and analysed using Constant Comparative Analysis. Results: Subjects reported a wide range of different meanings for thinness, which included traditional idioms of distress and typically western pressures towards thinness, which was particularly evident in the multicultural schools. Subjects also reported a wide range of dysfunctional eating practices (such as purging) which were underscored by a wide range of motivations, including traditional practices and western body image concern; and which did not tend to follow patterns of 'dieting' that are typical in affluent, western societies. Conclusion: Western pressures towards thinness may be blending with traditional idioms of distress and culturally sanctioned rituals of remedial purging and social over-eating, thereby placing this group at particular risk for a range of dysfunctional eating patterns that may not follow typically western paradigms or diagnostic systems.

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Body images, body-size perceptions, and eating behaviors among African-American and white college women

Cited by 368 publications

References 35 publications

Explaining the effect of ethnic group on weight concern: finding a role for family values

Explaining the effect of ethnic group on weight concern: finding a role for family values

Contextual factors in substance use: A study of suburban and inner-city adolescents

Meanings of thinness and dysfunctional eating in black South African females: A qualitative study

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