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Body checking and avoidance in ethnically diverse female college students
Emily K White1, Cortney S Warren
1Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States.
Body Image
|May 21, 2013
Summary
Body checking and avoidance behaviors are more prevalent in European and Asian American women than in African American and Latina women. These behaviors are linked to eating pathology and clinical impairment across diverse ethnic groups.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Eating Disorders
- Cultural Psychology
Background:
- Body checking and avoidance behaviors are common in women with eating disorders.
- Research on these behaviors in non-clinical, ethnically diverse populations is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the nature and correlates of body checking and avoidance behaviors.
- To investigate these behaviors in ethnically diverse female college students without eating disorders.
Main Methods:
- Survey methodology utilizing self-report measures.
- Inclusion of European American, Asian American, Latina, and African American women.
- Assessment of body checking, body avoidance, thin-ideal internalization, eating pathology, and clinical impairment.
Main Results:
- European and Asian American women reported significantly higher levels of body checking and avoidance compared to African American and Latina women.
- Regression analyses revealed ethnicity as a predictor of body checking and avoidance.
- Ethnicity, body checking, and body avoidance collectively predicted eating pathology and clinical impairment.
Conclusions:
- Body checking and avoidance behaviors are not benign in diverse, non-clinical female populations.
- These behaviors are associated with eating pathology and clinical impairment across ethnic groups.
- Findings highlight the importance of considering ethnicity in understanding body image and disordered eating behaviors.
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