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Emotional eating and eating psychopathology in nonclinical groups: A cross‐cultural comparison of women in Japan and the United Kingdom
Author(s) -
Waller Glenn,
Matoba Miki
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199911)26:3<333::aid-eat11>3.0.co;2-d
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychology , eating disorders , clinical psychology , emotional eating , psychiatry , eating behavior , developmental psychology , medicine , obesity
Objective Emotional eating is associated with eating psychopathology among Western populations. It is not known whether the same conclusions hold in non‐Western cultures, where norms for emotional expression differ. This study examined whether emotional eating has the same eating psychopathology correlates in different cultures. Method Three groups of nonclinical women were compared—Japanese living in Japan; Japanese living in the United Kingdom; and British living in the United Kingdom. They completed an Emotional Eating Scale and the Eating Disorders Inventory. Results There were different patterns of association between emotional eating and eating attitudes in the three groups. British women showed a strong linkage, Japanese women living in Japan showed no association, and Japanese women in the United Kingdom showed an intermediate pattern. Conclusions Emotional eating may be less of an index of eating psychopathology in non‐Western cultures. However, there appears to be an acculturative process, linking the two when one enters a Western culture. This cross‐cultural difference may have implications for the targeting of therapies, although this conclusion requires support from further research. © 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 26: 333–340, 1999.