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Acculturation and eating disorders in Asian and Caucasian Australian adolescent girls
Author(s) -
JENNINGS PIANGCHAI S.,
FORBES DAVID,
MCDERMOTT BRETT,
JUNIPER SATO,
HULSE GARY
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01332.x
Subject(s) - psychopathology , eating disorders , dieting , eating attitudes test , acculturation , psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , obesity , ethnic group , weight loss , sociology , anthropology
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.