Internalization of the Thin-Ideal and Eating Pathology in Kuwaiti Adult Women

Body image as a global mental health concern

“…Similar to findings in other settings, urbanization has been associated with a preference for thinness (Jackson et al, 2003 ), and research has pointed to the role of sociocultural factors in body image concerns, including the role of media (Tayyem et al, 2016 ; Saghir and Hyland, 2017 ) and the internalization of appearance ideals (Melki et al, 2015 ; Zainal et al, 2020 ). Perhaps in this geographic area more than others, the role of cultural and religious values and behaviors has been explored, with findings suggesting that the relationships are complex and require further disentangling (Al-Mutawa et al, 2019 ; Sidi et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The majority of the work that has been conducted outside of high-income Western countries has focused on sociocultural elements including pressures toward thinness and internalization of media ideals (e.g. Moreno-Domínguez et al, 2019 ; Zainal et al, 2020 ; Hsu et al, 2021 ). This represents an important gap, as theories that can account for the ways in which appearance is tied to power and privilege are likely particularly useful ones in such contexts.…”