title: Acculturation and disordered eating patterns among Mexican American women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This quantitative study examined the relationship between acculturation and disordered eating patterns among different generations of Mexican American women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 139 Mexican American women (mean age = 29.1) drawn from local undergraduate courses and community agencies. The posttest-only design included a demographic measure, Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA), and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the five generations studied, second-generation women endorsed the most disordered eating patterns and the highest degrees of concurrent acculturation. Moreover, there was a significant, positive correlation between acculturation and Factor III of the EAT which highlights control of eating and perceived pressure from others to gain weight. Participants scoring beyond the EAT cut-off score endorsed bulimic symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Differing intergenerational ideals regarding weight may create special strains for second-generation Mexican American women. Criteria for disordered eating in a population previously not considered at risk should be further assessed and clinicians should be careful not to underdiagnose among this group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. rchamorr@caregroup.harvard.edu
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chamorro
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Flores-Ortiz
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001504:Beauty; D001828:Body Image; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016901:Intergenerational Relations; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012495:San Francisco; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*