title: Development of a measure of "acculturation" for ethnic Fijians: methodologic and conceptual considerations for application to eating disorders research.
abstract: Acculturation has been examined as a risk factor for eating disorders, but interpretation of findings has been limited by inconsistent operationalization of this construct across studies. The study aim was to develop and evaluate a population-specific measure of acculturation for ethnic Fijian adolescent schoolgirls, to use in future analyses related to eating disorders. Our findings suggest that acculturation is a multidimensional construct characterized by distinct, though related, dimensions of orientation to ethnic Fijian and/or western/global culture with respect to a range of behaviors and attitudes. In contrast to theoretical models positing uni-dimensional, orthogonal, or oblique relations between cultural identities in individuals undergoing acculturation, our study findings support a heterogeneous pattern among correlations of dimensions across contrasting cultural identities. We suggest multidimensional measures of acculturation are optimal--and socio-demographic proxies inadequate--for characterization of this complex process for health research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. anne_becker@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Kristen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agnew-Blais
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Guarnaccia
authors.forename: Ruth H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Striegel-Moore
authors.forename: Stephen E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Gilman
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005367:Fiji / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000523:psychology*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012922:Social Change; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D055815:Young Adult