Cultural correlates of eating attitudes: a comparison between native-born and immigrant university students in Israel.
OBJECTIVE
This study explores the association between gender and exposure to Western culture and attitudes toward eating.


METHODS
Four hundred and ninety-nine university students participated in the study: 216 Israeli natives, 153 new immigrants (3 years or less since immigration) from the Former Soviet Union (FSU), and 130 veteran immigrants from FSU (4-15 years since immigration). Attitudes toward eating were measured using the Eating Attitude Test - EAT-26.


RESULTS
Israeli born women had higher weight and body mass index (BMI) than did new immigrant women. Higher scores on the EAT-26 were found among women than among men. Among women only, native-born Israelis and veteran immigrants were more likely to have positive EAT-26 scores (19.6%, 18.8%) than were new immigrant women (7.9%), indicating disordered eating attitudes. Part of the differences in EAT-26 scores was explained by differences between the groups on age and BMI; however, even after adjustment the differences remained significant on the bulimia subscale.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest a rapid cultural effect in attitudes toward eating that may reflect a tendency toward eating disorders as well as a difference in the proportion of obesity. It seems that the veteran immigrants have adopted Western cultural norms and eating patterns in a way that has erased the differences in tendency toward eating disorders between them and the Israeli born women.
Greenberg
Liron
L
Department of Education, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Cwikel
Julie
J
Mirsky
Julia
J
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D013334:Students; D014586:USSR / Q000208:ethnology; D014495:Universities