Acculturation and eating disorders in Asian and Caucasian Australian adolescent girls.
The present study aimed to compare the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders between Asian and Caucasian adolescent girls; and investigate the relationship between acculturation and the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders in subgroups of Asian girls. Two groups of non-clinical adolescent girls in Perth, Western Australia, were compared using a survey method. There were 17 Asian and 25 Caucasian adolescent girls, aged 14-17 drawn from private high schools in Perth who were screened using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-2), and an acculturation index. The psychopathology scores for eating disorders of the Asian group were significantly higher than that of the Caucasian group in terms of total EDI-2 score, Interpersonal Distrust, Maturity Fears, Impulse Regulation and Social Insecurity subscales. Eating attitudes measured by Dieting subscale of the EAT-26 was significantly different. Within the Asian group, the less acculturated girls had higher scores on the EAT-26 and the EDI-2 than the more acculturated. Less acculturated Asian girls appeared to have unhealthier attitudes and psychopathology toward eating.
Jennings
Piangchai S
PS
School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia. pjenning@ichr.uwa.edu.au
Forbes
David
D
McDermott
Brett
B
Juniper
Sato
S
Hulse
Gary
G
D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data