The following study, conducted in 2001 sums up previously recorded information about the correlation between ethnicity, culture and eating to produce quantitative figures about the coloration between these factors. The need for this research arose from more than a decade of related study on disorders such as bulimia and anorexia that have never produced any data concerning women of color. The hypothesis used was that western culture and being Caucasian increases the frequency of eating disorders in women; a more specific question asked by the researchers was whether acculturation to western, Caucasian culture by non-white women increase or decrease tendencies towards eating disorders. Since culture, and ethnicity are not always synonymous, the research examined minorities from combinations of these variables.
The research method used was a comparison of data from 90 former experiments concerning ethnicity, culture, and cases of eating disorders. Information concerning a total of 17,781 people was used, 16,214 of who were women. Of the sample 9937 were Caucasian, 5997 were African American, 1004 were Asian, and 843 were of other ethnic groups. Although culture and ethnicity seems to have an effect on eating disorders, very little research has been conducted that studies a non-western population and its tendency for disorders. Past databases were chosen for their representation of four variables: they had to include a sample of both white and non-white females, excluding acculturation studies; studies that included men were not excluded, but a sample of women had to be present in both experimental and control groups to be included; they had to include at least one quantitative measure for eating disorder and body satisfaction; studies had to be performed in a way that at least one effect size could be calculated.
The independent variable was the subjects’ ethnicity and cultural background, while the dependent variable was the occurrence of eating disturbance and body dissatisfaction. Eight categories were used to define and measure eating disturbance and body dissatisfaction based on the categories used in the database. The categories were bulimia diagnosed by DSM-IV, eating disorder not diagnosed by the DSM-IV, weight and dieting concerns, dietary restraint, drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, smaller ideal body, and lower reported weight. After calculating scores for each category a ninth comprehensive category was calculated under the title eating disturbance/body dissatisfaction. Information from the database were processed by subtracting the mean of non-white women from that of white women and dividing by the shared within group standard deviation. In cases where this information was not available several alternative calculation strategies allowed for processing into a comparable format. Some modifications to this method were made where this information was not provided. A controversial issue that may raise questions as to the validity of this experiment is that ethnicity and culture are two illusive definitions, since ethnicity is a social construct and since appearance does not necessarily reveal behavior or culture. The term race is not used in this study since there is no biological basis to race.
The results of the study show that white samples scored more than non-white samples in more than ¾ of the cases examined. In the comprehensive category of eating disturbance and body dissatisfaction the largest mean scores were 2/3 of the standard deviation between white and non-white women. This figure is made up of some categories such as bulimia, eating disorder, and weight and dieting concerns did not display a substantial difference between white and non-white women. When elaborated, the comparison to other ethnic groups shows that African American women indeed weigh more than Caucasian, and that Asians seemed to show more symptoms than Caucasians. The result for the correlation between acculturation and eating disorders were not concessive, reflecting the fact that acculturation had little effect on eating disorder after the more substantial effect of ethnic group and culture. By arriving at these results the researchers accomplished their goals for this study by proving that ethnicity and culture affect eating disorders, thus retaining the hypothesis, and by showing that acculturation of the minority member to the dominant culture has little effect on eating disorders.
The main limitation of the research done was that it relied on data that has been collected in past studies. Using such information may have set pre-experimental bios on the choice of information; for example a category for anorexia was not used due to lack of relevant research on the disorder. The need to process the information into equal measures may have caused a distortion of the data used. An obviously larger but more effective project would have been to collect comparative information regarding ethnicity and eating disorders; doing so would allow a solid basis for comparison, using equal categories, and more controllable conditions. The need to have a researcher defined diagnosis of disorders other than those that are diagnosed as bulimia by the DSM-VI might have lead to a subjective choice of symptoms that may not represent all culture and ethnic groups.
