UNDERSTANDING BODY EXPERIENCES AND THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ETHNIC IDENTITY, ACCULTURATION, AND INTERNALIZATION OF THE THINNESS IDEAL AMONG HISPANIC AND LATINA WOMEN

 
 
 
 

UNDERSTANDING BODY EXPERIENCES AND THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ETHNIC IDENTITY, ACCULTURATION, AND INTERNALIZATION OF THE THINNESS IDEAL AMONG HISPANIC AND LATINA WOMEN

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Title: UNDERSTANDING BODY EXPERIENCES AND THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ETHNIC IDENTITY, ACCULTURATION, AND INTERNALIZATION OF THE THINNESS IDEAL AMONG HISPANIC AND LATINA WOMEN
Author: Henrickson, Heather C
Description: Using Stice’s (1994) sociocultural model as a framework, the present study explored relationships among environmental influences, ethnic identity, acculturation, acculturative stress, internalization of the thinness ideal, and body image experiences among Hispanic and Latina women living in the United States. Participants were 277 women who self-identified as Hispanic or Latino and completed the following measures: Physical Appearance Related to Teasing Scale, Negative Communication Scale, Perceived Sociocultural Pressure Scale, Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans–II, Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory, Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale–Revised, Eating Disorder Inventory–2–Body Dissatisfaction Subscale, Body Checking Questionnaire, Contour Drawing Rating Scale, Body Shape Questionnaire, and Body Areas Satisfaction Scale. As hypothesized and consistent with Stice (1994), results from the structural equation modeling and regression analyses indicated that internalization of the thinness ideal mediated the relationship between environmental influences and body experiences, with more negative communication and pressure from friends and family associated with greater internalization of the thin ideal, and greater internalization of the thin ideal, in turn, associated with more negative body experiences. Unexpected results included the relatively low path coefficients between environmental influences, internalization of the thin ideal, and body experiences, along with the emergence of body shape evaluation, the phenomenological experience of one’s body shape, as a stronger mediator of the relationships between environmental influences and body experiences than internalization of the thin ideal. Interestingly, although both level of acculturation and subjective stress associated with pressure to acculturate were significant moderators of the relationship between environmental influences and internalization of the thin ideal, ethnic identity was not. Results showed that at high levels of acculturation, the relationship between environmental influences and internalization of the thin ideal was significant. Further, the relationship between environmental influences and internalization of the thin ideal was significant at low rather than high levels of subjective stress associated with pressure to acculturate. It is clear that each aspect of culture plays a unique and separate role in internalization of mainstream appearance ideals. Future research should replicate these findings and explore within group experiences for other groups of women of color.
Permanent Link: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1163694368
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/17888
Date: 2006

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