Exploring mediation pathways on the relationship between acculturation and binge eating among Latino adolescents.

The objective of this study was to explore the mediating effects of emotional eating, restrained eating, and external eating on the relationship between acculturation and binge eating among Latino adolescents. Adolescents who self-identified as Latino (N = 285) at public high schools in Southern California were recruited and completed a self-report survey. Acculturation was assessed using the 8-item Acculturation, Habits, Interests for Multicultural Adolescents (AHIMSA) scale for adolescents, mediators were assessed using Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and binge eating was assessed using a 13-item Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale. A bootstrapped multiple mediation model was used to test mediation pathways. Findings suggest that individually each eating style-emotional, restrained and external eating pathway did not reach significance singly, but that jointly, their combined effect was significant with a total indirect effect (B = 0.15, CI 0.01-0.30) indicating an additive effect of the three eating styles. Future research should examine additional mediators of the relationship between acculturation and binge eating.