Eating attitudes and body dissatisfaction in adolescents: Cross-cultural study.
OBJECTIVE
Sociocultural factors are thought to be important in the pathogenesis of eating disorders. However, there have been few studies comparing eating behavior among various cultural populations. The aim of the present study is to compare attitudes towards bodyweight and shape, and desire for thinness in Japanese male and female subjects with those in people from other countries and of different ethnic origin.


METHODS
The subjects were 411 Japanese, 130 Indian, 135 Omani, 113 Euro-American and 196 Filipino adolescents. The Eating Attitude Test-26 and the Drive for Thinness subscale of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 were used to assess eating attitudes and fat phobia.


RESULTS
Subjects from India, Oman and the Philippines demonstrated eating attitudes that were similar to or worse than subjects from Western countries and Japan, although their desire for thinness was not as strong. The relationship between body mass index and eating attitudes or fat phobia in Indian, Omani and Filipino subjects differed from that in subjects from Western countries and Japan. In addition, both males and females showed disturbed eating attitudes in the Indian, Omani, and Filipino subjects.


CONCLUSIONS
There are differences in eating attitudes and the drive for thinness among different cultural groups.
Kayano
Mami
M
Department of Stress Science and Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. kayano-tky@umin.ac.jp
Yoshiuchi
Kazuhiro
K
Al-Adawi
Samir
S
Viernes
Nonna
N
Dorvlo
Atsu S S
AS
Kumano
Hiroaki
H
Kuboki
Tomifusa
T
Akabayashi
Akira
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004435:Eating; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013851:Thinness / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology