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Thin ideal internalization in Mexican girls: A test of the sociocultural model of eating disorders
Author(s) -
Austin Julia L.,
Smith Jane Ellen
Publication year - 2008
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/eat.20529
Subject(s) - internalization , psychology , sociocultural evolution , disordered eating , eating disorders , ideal (ethics) , population , developmental psychology , eating attitudes test , test (biology) , social psychology , clinical psychology , demography , medicine , sociology , paleontology , philosophy , receptor , epistemology , anthropology , biology
Objective: We examined the influence of thin ideal internalization on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in Mexican girls. Method: We sampled 137 public school girls aged 12–15 from a small city in Mexico. Participants were given Spanish versions of the sociocultural attitudes toward appearance scale, two measures of body dissatisfaction, the eating attitudes test, and the attitudinal familism scale. Results: Thin ideal internalization mediated the relationship between thin ideal awareness and body dissatisfaction, and the relationship between thin ideal awareness and eating disorder symptoms. Attitudinal familism was negatively correlated with thin ideal internalization for girls outside of the normal weight range. Conclusion: Mexican girls are at risk of eating disorder symptoms, and there is support for the sociocultural model of disordered eating in this population. Hispanic family values may mark protection from thin ideal internalization in Mexican girls outside of the normal weight range. © 2008 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2008