Transcultural aspects of eating disorders: A critical literature review

Abstract

A review of studies addressing anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa among Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Africans, and Middle Easterners yielded only 35 studies, of which 22 were qualitative case reports, three were clinical quantitative studies, and ten were non-clinical quantitative studies. The case studies reported symptoms similar to those of Caucasian patients, and eating disorders were reported in all SES classes. The clinical studies, all reported from Asian countries, described a number of cases for eating disorders quite different from one another. The non-clinical quantitative studies reported a number of cases consistent with the ranges previously reported for controlled samples of non-clinical Caucasian populations. We found few or no quantitative studies on eating disorders from Hispanic, Middle Eastern, African, or Asian countries other than Japan.

The role of ethnicity and parental bonding in the eating and weight concerns of Asian-American and caucasian college women

“…No differences were found in concerns about eating and weight issues. Contrary to our predictions and the conclusions drawn by Lee (1995) and Davis and Yager (1992), this investigation's findings showed no suggestion of decreased fears of obesity among Asian women. In fact, the Asian-American women were more dissatisfied and concerned about their body shape.…”

“…Nevertheless, in Davis and Yager's (1992) review, the eating disorder symptoms found cross-culturally appear to be similar to those found in Caucasian women. The one consistent exception found is that many Asian women apparently lack the strong fear of In the area of parental bonding, following Ahmad et al (1994) and Calam et al (1990), increased levels of eating concerns were expected to be associated with deficits in parental care among Caucasians, but with parental overprotection among Asian-Americans.…”

Chinese men and women in the United States and Hong Kong: Body and self-esteem ratings as a prelude to dieting and exercise

“…That interest in Asian behavior relative to practices in Western countries continues today A number of studies have examined the eating attitudes and appearance concerns of Asian women exposed to Western ideals in their own country (e.g., Mumford, Whitehouse, & Choudry, 1992) or recently acculturated to a Western lifestyle as the result of emigration (e.g., Furnham & Alibhai, 1983). However these studies of Asian women have primarily focused on women of Indian descent and/or excluded a comparison group in the country of origin (Davis & Yager, 1992).…”

Emotional eating and eating psychopathology in nonclinical groups: A cross-cultural comparison of women in Japan and the United Kingdom

“…Reviews and epidemiological studies have demonstrated significant levels of eating disturbance in these groups (Davis & Yager, 1992;Dolan, 1991;Kuboki, Nomura, Ide, Suematsu, & Araki, 1996;Mukai, 1996;Mumford, 1993). In recent years, a number of studies in Japan have established normative levels of eating psychopathology and of related morbidity (Furukawa, 1994;Kiriike, Nagata, Tanaka, Matsunaga, 1988;Kuboki, Nomura, Kumano, & Suematsu, 1996;Matsunaga & Kiriike, 1997).…”