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Weight changes and eating attitudes of Japanese adolescents under acculturative stresses: A prospective study
Author(s) -
Furukawa Toshiaki
Publication year - 1994
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 - 10.1002/1098-108x(199401)15:1<71::aid-eat2260150109>3.0.co;2-r
Subject(s) - psychology , acculturation , neuroticism , extraversion and introversion , psychosocial , personality , dieting , prospective cohort study , big five personality traits , clinical psychology , distrust , developmental psychology , weight loss , social psychology , psychiatry , obesity , medicine , ethnic group , surgery , sociology , anthropology , psychotherapist
An increased rate of pathological eating attitudes has been reported among the people under acculturative stresses. We therefore carried out a prospective study of eating patterns in a cohort of 144 Japanese adolescents who spent 1 year with a host family in various countries of the world. The subjects showed a statistically significant gain in standardized body weight. Although the students did not report greater prevalence of abnormal eating attitudes under acculturative stresses than before, a substantial minority of them manifested maladap‐tive eating patterns. Among the psychosocial variables measured before departure, personality traits of neuroticism and introversion correlated with high drive for thinness during the stay; parental overprotection, lack of interoceptive awareness, and interpersonal distrust predicted bulimic behaviors. The findings are discussed from a transcultural point of view. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.