Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2022

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843717

Publication Title

Frontiers in Psychology

Volume

13

Pages

843717 (1-14)

Abstract

Objective: Studies that examine disordered eating in samples of Asian individuals living in the United States frequently combine all individuals of Asian descent into a single group, which can obscure important differences between groups and their experiences of acculturation. The goal of the present study was to establish the relation of acculturation, internalization of appearance ideals, and religiosity as predicting body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in women of South and Southeast Asian (SSEA) descent.

Method: Women of SSEA descent (N = 112) aged 18–51 years (M = 23.10, SD = 6.4) completed a battery of questionnaires that inquire about these variables. A path analysis was conducted with acculturation serving as the independent (exogenous) variable, religiosity and internalization of the thin ideal as mediators, and body dissatisfaction and disordered eating as dependent (endogenous) variables.

Results: Direct paths from acculturation to both body dissatisfaction and disordered eating were not significant. Thin ideal internalization completely accounted for the path from acculturation to both endogenous variables; whereas, religiosity did not significantly account for any indirect effect.

Discussion: For SSEA women, internalization of appearance ideals is a potentially greater risk factor for disordered eating than acculturation or religiosity. As this was an atemporal mediation analysis, more work needs to be done exploring predictors of internalization in this population and how that may impact the development of disordered eating.

Comments

© 2022 Negi, Benau, Strowger, Grammer and Timko. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Original Publication Citation

Negi, S., Benau, E. M., Strowger, M., Grammer, A. C., & Timko, C. A. (2022). Internalization of appearance ideals and not religiosity indirectly impacts the relationship between acculturation and disordered eating risk in South and Southeast Asian women living in the United States. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1-14, Article 843717. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.843717

ORCID

0000-0003-3643-0419 (Strowger)

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