Acculturation and eating disorders in Asian and Caucasian Australian adolescent girls

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005 Feb;59(1):56-61. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01332.x.

Abstract

The present study aimed to compare the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders between Asian and Caucasian adolescent girls; and investigate the relationship between acculturation and the attitudes and psychopathology of eating disorders in subgroups of Asian girls. Two groups of non-clinical adolescent girls in Perth, Western Australia, were compared using a survey method. There were 17 Asian and 25 Caucasian adolescent girls, aged 14-17 drawn from private high schools in Perth who were screened using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-2), and an acculturation index. The psychopathology scores for eating disorders of the Asian group were significantly higher than that of the Caucasian group in terms of total EDI-2 score, Interpersonal Distrust, Maturity Fears, Impulse Regulation and Social Insecurity subscales. Eating attitudes measured by Dieting subscale of the EAT-26 was significantly different. Within the Asian group, the less acculturated girls had higher scores on the EAT-26 and the EDI-2 than the more acculturated. Less acculturated Asian girls appeared to have unhealthier attitudes and psychopathology toward eating.

MeSH terms

  • Acculturation*
  • Adolescent
  • Asian People / psychology*
  • Asian People / statistics & numerical data
  • Attitude to Health
  • Body Mass Index
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / diagnosis
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / epidemiology
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / ethnology*
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Personality Inventory
  • Statistics as Topic
  • Western Australia / epidemiology
  • White People / psychology*
  • White People / statistics & numerical data