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Description:
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A relative large number of women on college campuses report experiencing eating afflictions . About 61 % of college women indicated that they either occasionally or regularly used extreme measures to control their weight (Mintz & Betz , 1988 ) . No clear consensus on the relative prevalence of eating disorder symptoms across ethnic groups has emerged (Franko et al . , 2007 ) . However , previous literature has accentuated the importance of BMI and the internalization of ideals for thinness as important predictive factors for eating disorder symptoms , and thus should be included in an analysis of symptomotology . Moreover , no studies were located that have taken into account ethnic identity when comparing the endorsement of eating disorder symptomotology among Caucasian and Hispanic women .
The purpose of this study was to examine (a ) to what extent college women from Hispanic and Caucasian ethnic groups differ in behavioral and attitudinal symptoms of eating disorders , respectively when controlling for BMI , (b ) to what extent ethnic identity contributed to behavioral and attitudinal symptomotology , respectively , when controlling for BMI and the internalization thinness as a beauty ideal , and (c ) whether ethnicity moderated the relation of ethnic identity to eating disorder behavioral and attitudinal symptoms .
Participants in this study included 264 female students (45 % Hispanic , N=119 ; 55 % Caucasian , N=145 ) at a large urban university in the Southwest United States . The majority of the Hispanic participants identified themselves as second generation (N = 72 , 62 .2 % , SD= 1 .27 ) , meaning they were born in the United States , and had one or both parents born in a Latin country . Participants completed Demographics questions , the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDEQ ; Fairburn & Beglin , 1994 ) , the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM ; Phinney , 1999 ) , and the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ ; Heinberg , Thompson , & Stormer , 1995 ) .
Bivariate correlations showed that behavioral and attitudinal eating disorder symptoms were positively and highly correlated to one another for both ethnic groups . For Hispanics , both types of symptoms were positively correlated to BMI and internalization , and negatively correlated to ethnic identity . Results differed for the Caucasian group , with positive significant correlations between attitudinal symptoms to internalization and to BMI . Behavioral symptoms were only significantly correlated with internalization and not BMI . Among Caucasians there were no statistically significant correlations of ethnic identity to any of the variables included in the study . The MANCOVA analysis showed no statistically significant differences in symptomotology between the two ethnic groups . Hierarchical Linear Regressions showed that ethnicity does not moderate the relation of ethnic identity and eating disorder symptoms . |