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Beth KlingamanUniversity of Maryland—College Park
A Bioecological Perspective on Body Image: What Does
Culture Have To Do With It?
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Eating Disorders – Key Trends
Eating disorders in the United States: over 8 million people
under-researched, under-funded, and under-reported
From 1935 to 1989: significant increase in eating disorders, especially among
young women (15-24 years old)
Almost half of newly identified cases of anorexia are in: females 15-19 years old
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Of those who develop eating disorders, at what age is onset?
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A Big Risk: Body Dissatisfaction
What puts women at risk for eating disorders? body dissatisfaction and preoccupation neuroticism and body surveillance
Over one-half of teenage girls use at least one of: skipping meals fasting smoking cigarettes vomiting taking laxatives
Body preoccupation occurs as young as: Five years old Exacerbated by increased media awareness of obesity
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Presentation Outline
How does body dissatisfaction relate to culture among Latina women? Bioecological theory of development Culture Body dissatisfaction among Latina women State of the research on body image and culture
among Latina women Improving on past research with data on:
- acculturation, enculturation, and social anxiety as related to body dissatisfaction- exploratory analysis of media
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Background on culture
Culture: evolving and shared system of meaning which provides value and context through ideology, values, beliefs, roles, history, and social norms.
Acculturation: modification of customs, habits, language usage, lifestyle, and value orientations when faced with a dominant (or host) culture.
Enculturation: one’s adherence to the customs and values of one’s native culture.
Both processes are experienced to some degree by all immigrants.
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Background on culture (continued)
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Why assess body image among Latin-American women?
Rapidly changing population demographics.
Latinos: largest minority group in the United States.
Latinas: rising body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.
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Latinas: Body Image and Culture
Silhouette drawings given to Latinas and Caucasian women:
Latinas: larger ideal body shapes.
Latinas: more body satisfaction.
Perhaps Latino culture emphasizes a larger and more realistic ideal body size than does American culture.
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Latinas: Body Image and Culture (continued)
Cross cultural research:
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Latinas: Body Image and Culture (continued)
Theory: acculturation thinner, more stringent, ideal body sizes
Acculturated Latinas vs. unacculturated Latinas
Generation status as a proxy for acculturation
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Latinas: Body Image and Culture (continued)
So, being Latina means you are protected from body image concerns?
No . . .
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Latinas: Body Image and Culture (continued)
Considering these mixed results, is there a meaningful relation between body image and acculturation for Latina women?
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State of the research on acculturation and body image among Latina
women Mixed results
Confusion of terms
Vague and inconsistent use of term “body image”
Limited research on social aspects of body image
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Improving on past research, the current study aims to:
Assess both acculturation and enculturation
Use a specific measure of “body image” which taps one’s anxiety about one’s body in social situations.
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Statement of Hypotheses: among young adult (18-25 year old) Latina
women: Acculturation will correlate positively with Social
Physique Anxiety.
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Statement of Hypotheses: among young adult (18-25 year old) Latina
women: Enculturation will correlate negatively with
Social Physique Anxiety.
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Statement of Hypotheses: among young adult (18-25 year old) Latina
women: Enculturation will moderate the previously hypothesized relation between
acculturation and Social Physique Anxiety, such that the expected positive relation between acculturation and Social Physique Anxiety will be reduced for individuals who have high enculturation.
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Participants
58 Latina women
Age: 18 to 58 years (M = 32.53, SD = 12.07)
All participants characterized their race as only Hispanic or Latina.
Most were the first in their families to come to the U.S.
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Measures
Demographic measure
Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AMAS-ZABB) measures both acculturation and enculturation (cultural identity, cultural and language competence).
Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS)
Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (B-FNE) measure the extent to which individuals feel apprehensive in evaluative situations.
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Relation between Acculturation and Fear of Negative Evaluation
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Relation between Enculturation and Social Physique Anxiety
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Results Bilinear process of acculturation
Role of enculturation
Role of identifying oneself as “Latina”
Rather, degree of association with Latino culture
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Exploratory Media Analysis
Latina women who read U.S. American fashion magazines were significantly higher on social physique anxiety than those who did not read U.S. American fashion magazines.
In contrast, those who read Hispanic fashion magazines did not differ in social physique anxiety from those who did not read Hispanic fashion magazines.
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Implications
Replication of previous research among specific population.
Treatment: investigate importance of Latino culture.
Does enculturation cause lower social physique anxiety? Does social physique anxiety somehow influence enculturation, or does a third variable impact both?
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Limitations
Restricted range of enculturation scores
Focus on younger adult women
Lack of measurement and control for body mass index
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Next Steps?
Recruit from multiple cultural groups.
Recruit with attention to possible restricted range.
Assess body mass index.
Assess among most vulnerable age. Particular attention to identity issues.
Add complexity by testing path model.
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Phan and Tylka (2006) modelwith social physique anxiety as body preoccupation
with ethnic identity split into commitment and exploration
they proposed partial mediation
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Phan and Tylka (2006) modelwith social physique anxiety as body preoccupation
with ethnic identity split into commitment and exploration
they found full mediation – will there be partial mediation or full?
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Phan and Tylka (2006) modelwith social physique anxiety as body preoccupation
with ethnic identity split into commitment and exploration
with hypothesized full mediation
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Alternative Model
An alternative model (adding BMI and a measure of social anxiety) will also be tested separately among female college students of African American, Caucasian, and Asian American racial groups.
Overall, BMI will negatively correlate with measures of mental health.
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Partial mediation with added BMI and Social Anxiety
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A test of mediation with added BMI and Social Anxiety
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Full mediation with added BMI and Social Anxiety
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View from the perspective of bio-ecological theories:
Body Objectification Theory
Society: Sexual objectification
Women: Internalized body objectification of weight, shape, or
size
Body monitoring Appearance anxiety Depression
Anxiety
Eating disorders, etc.
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View from the perspective of bio-ecological theories:
Dual Pathway Model
Sociocultural pressure for thinness
Internalized pressure for thinness Body dissatisfaction
Negative affect
Eating disorders and other symptoms of poor mental health
and well-being