title: Racial comparisons in perceptions of maternal and peer attitudes, body dissatisfaction, and eating disorders among African American and White women.
abstract: Although once thought primarily to affect White women, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating exist among all racial groups. In the current study, the authors determined whether the relationship between participants' perceived maternal/peer attitudes toward appearance and the outcomes of body dissatisfaction and eating pathology varied by race. Self-reported data, including measures of body dissatisfaction, disordered eating behaviors, body mass index (BMI), and perceptions of maternal/peer attitudes, were collected from December 2012 to May 2013 at a large Mid-Atlantic university. BMI (β = 0.20, p = .01), perceptions of peers' attitudes toward appearance (β = 0.23, p = .02), and White race (β = 0.33, p < .001) were independently associated with body dissatisfaction. Additionally, race interacted with perceptions of peers' attitudes toward appearance such that at high perceptions, African American women reported high levels of body dissatisfaction (β = -0.20, p = .04), but this was not true for White women. Higher perceived peer concern about weight and shape (β = 0.32, p < .001), increased BMI (β = 0.30, p < .001), and White race (β = 0.21, p = .002), also were associated with disordered eating. The results of this study have implications for prevention programs that address disordered eating for racially diverse groups of women.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia , USA.
authors.forename: Sarah J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Javier
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia , USA.
authors.forename: Melanie P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Virginia Commonwealth University , Richmond , Virginia , USA.
authors.forename: Faye Z
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Belgrave
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: African American; eating disorders; mental health; psychosocial