Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Oct 27;19(21):13967. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192113967.
Disordered eating is a public health problem because it's highly prevalent, dangerous, and costly. More research about its risk factors and mechanisms is needed to address this problem and prevent disordered eating among high-risk populations, particularly understudied ethnic minorities. The present study contributes to the limited existing research on acculturation and disordered eating among Asian American college students who represent an understudied and high-risk group. The sample consisted of 245 Asian American (primarily East and Southeast Asian American) college students who provided data on their acculturation status, internalization of thin and muscular body ideals, body surveillance, body shame, and disordered eating. Results show that after controlling for gender, both cultures are positively associated with internalization of the muscular body ideal, but only the Asian culture of origin is associated with disordered eating. Additionally, path analysis results show that Asian culture of origin has a significant total effect on disordered eating as well as a significant indirect effect on disordered eating, mediated by thin body ideal internalization. While American culture does not have a significant contribution to body ideal internalization or disordered eating, it interacts with Asian culture of origin and put participants with high levels of both cultures at a greater risk for muscular body ideal internalization. Findings highlight the importance of cultural context in the understanding of body experiences and disordered eating among Asian American college students and have implications for the prevention and intervention of these problems in this high-risk population.
饮食失调是一个公共卫生问题，因为它非常普遍、危险且代价高昂。为了解决这个问题并预防高风险人群（尤其是研究较少的少数族裔）出现饮食失调，需要更多关于其风险因素和机制的研究。本研究为现有关于亚裔美国大学生的文化适应和饮食失调的有限研究做出了贡献，他们是一个研究较少且风险较高的群体。该样本由 245 名亚裔美国大学生（主要是东亚和东南亚裔美国大学生）组成，他们提供了关于其文化适应状况、瘦和肌肉体型理想内化、身体监控、身体羞耻感和饮食失调的数据。结果表明，在控制了性别之后，两种文化都与肌肉体型理想内化呈正相关，但只有原籍亚洲文化与饮食失调有关。此外，路径分析结果表明，原籍亚洲文化对饮食失调有显著的总效应，以及通过瘦体型理想内化的显著间接效应。虽然美国文化对体型理想内化或饮食失调没有显著贡献，但它与原籍亚洲文化相互作用，使具有这两种文化高水平的参与者更容易内化肌肉体型理想。研究结果强调了文化背景在理解亚裔美国大学生的身体体验和饮食失调方面的重要性，对预防和干预这一高风险人群的这些问题具有启示意义。
