Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in Native American, Hispanic, and White College Women

The sociocultural model of eating disorders asserts that societies which emphasize the thin-ideal have higher rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Recent research questions the related presumption that non-White cultures value a larger ideal female and thus have lower rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. The limited research on these constructs in racial/ethnic minorities primarily has used non-validated instruments. The current study investigated rates of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating with validated, widely used measures.

Measures of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were completed by 896 college women in the United States: 473 Hispanics, 341 non-Hispanic whites, and 82 Native Americans.

Although Native Americans and Hispanics had higher body mass indices (and larger ideal shapes) than White women, the groups had similar body dissatisfaction scores. Native Americans reported somewhat less restricted eating compared to White women. When controlling for body mass index and age, group differences on body dissatisfaction emerged and the group differences in eating disorder symptoms became more pronounced, with White women showing more pathology. Reliability and validity across groups were good.

This study offers some support for the sociocultural model of eating disorders and provides mean scores for Native American and Hispanic females on widely-used eating disorder measures.

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.