The bad taste of social ostracism: the effects of exclusion on the eating behaviors of African-American women.
African-American women experience disproportionately higher rates of obesity than do Caucasian women. The stress African-American women encounter from experiences of discrimination may influence their eating behaviours, which could contribute to weight gain. Emotional eating theory suggests some people increase their intake of high-calorie foods to cope with stressful experiences. We investigated the effects of social exclusion by other African-American women or by Caucasian women for African-American women's distress and food consumption using a laboratory paradigm. As hypothesised, there were main effects of ostracism and interactions between ostracism and race, although not all of the interactions took the expected form. As hypothesised, African-American women ate more potato crisps after being excluded by Caucasians than by African-Americans. Unexpectedly, African-American women who were excluded by other African-American women self-reported more emotional distress than did African-American women excluded by Caucasian women. These findings suggest that ostracism by both in-group and out-group members are disturbing, although people may respond to in-group and out-group exclusion in different ways. Directions for future research are suggested that could elucidate the circumstances under which different emotional and behavioural coping responses are employed.
a Department of Public Health & Health Sciences, School of Health Professions & Studies , University of Michigan , Flint , MI , USA.
Lenwood W
LW
Hayman
Rusty B
RB
McIntyre
Antonia
A
Abbey
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D012929:Psychological Distance; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
African-American women; eating behaviours; obesity risk; perceived racial discrimination; social ostracism