Weight-related eating among Latino college students.

Abstract

An understanding of patterns of food consumption that are theorized to be “weight-related eating”—routine restraint, compensatory restraint, susceptibility to external cues, and emotional eating—among Latino college students may help with efforts to understand elevated rates of higher weight and combat risk of diet- and obesity-related diseases seen in Latino men. It was hypothesized that body-image variables, acculturation, enculturation, and acculturation–enculturation interaction would predict weight-related eating in Latino college students. Survey data from 96 U.S. college students who self-identified as male and Latino were analyzed. Approximately 60% of participants were people with higher weight. Correlations indicated that body mass index, acculturation, and enculturation played minimal roles in the prediction of weight-related eating in Latino college students. Logistic regressions revealed that Overweight Preoccupation was often the sole variable that contributed significantly to weight-related eating. However, higher levels of acculturation to Anglo culture were positively related to caring about appearance, whereas higher levels of enculturation to Latinx culture were positively related to satisfaction with appearance among Latino college students. Although body image is a multifaceted construct, preoccupation with being overweight may be a key phenomenon in weight-related eating among Latino college students. The results suggest the need for empirical attention to the importance of targeting Overweight Preoccupation to reduce weight-related eating in Latino college students. Implications also include the need for investigation of the relationships among body-image variables, acculturation, and enculturation. Limitations and future directions are discussed.