Department of Psychology, Suffolk University, 73 Tremont Street, Boston, MA, 02108, USA.
J Immigr Minor Health. 2020 Apr;22(2):249-254. doi: 10.1007/s10903-019-00892-8.
Adolescence is a critical developmental period as youth explore their body image and work to establish an identity. The stress of identity and body image development can be exacerbated by acculturative stress faced by immigrant adolescents. Using a person-centered analysis, we investigated immigrant adolescents' (n = 57) profiles based on assimilation to the United States (US), weight, and body image dissatisfaction. Analyses included an exploratory two-step clustering technique using maximum likelihood estimation procedures to assign class membership. Follow-up analyses then examined latent class membership by adolescent age, gender, culture of origin, and immigration generation. Results indicated several meaningful latent groups of adolescents based on their BID, acculturation, and BMI. These profiles included one in which adolescents who were underweight and more assimilated to US culture also reported more satisfaction with their body image. A second profile emerged of adolescents who were normal weight or overweight and less assimilated, who also reported higher levels of body image dissatisfaction, with a desire to be thinner. The third cluster profile included adolescents who were of normal weight, but were higher on assimilation and were among the most dissatisfied with their body image. Our findings suggest that immigrant adolescents at all levels of acculturation are internalizing the thin body ideal prominent in the US, with a variety of implications for their sense of body image and BMI. Implications for mental and physical health care for immigrant adolescents are discussed.
青春期是一个关键的发展阶段，年轻人在此期间探索自己的身体形象，并努力建立身份认同。身份和身体形象发展的压力可能会因移民青少年面临的文化适应压力而加剧。我们使用以个体为中心的分析方法，根据同化到美国（美国）、体重和身体形象不满的程度，对移民青少年（n=57）的情况进行了分析。分析包括使用最大似然估计程序进行的探索性两步聚类技术，以分配类别成员。然后，通过青少年年龄、性别、原籍文化和移民代际，对潜在的类别成员进行了后续分析。结果表明，根据他们的 BID、文化适应和 BMI，青少年有几个有意义的潜在群体。这些特征包括一个群体，其中体重不足且更适应美国文化的青少年对自己的身体形象也更满意。第二个群体是体重正常或超重且适应程度较低的青少年，他们也报告了更高水平的身体形象不满，渴望更瘦。第三个群体包括体重正常的青少年，但同化程度较高，对身体形象最不满意。我们的研究结果表明，不同程度适应美国文化的移民青少年都内化了美国突出的瘦体型理想，这对他们的身体形象感和 BMI 有多种影响。讨论了对移民青少年进行心理健康和身体健康护理的意义。
