Acculturation, out-group positivity and eating disorders symptoms among Emirati women

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Eating and Weight Disorders

Publication Date

4-1-2018

Abstract

© 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Western acculturation has been implicated in the development of eating disorders among populations living outside Europe and North America. This study explored the relationship between Western acculturation, in-group/out-group evaluations and eating disorders symptoms among female citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Emirati college women (N = 209) completed an affective priming task, designed to implicitly assess in-group (Emirati) and out-group (American) evaluations. Participants also completed the Westernization Survey, a widely used self-report measure of acculturation, and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). Across the whole sample, out-group positivity was correlated with higher levels of eating disorder symptoms. Participants classified as at risk for eating disorders showed a clear out-group preference (out-group positivity greater than in-group positivity). Western acculturation was also positively correlated with eating disorder symptoms. Overall, these findings lend further support to the acculturation hypothesis of eating disorders in the context of Emirati college women.

ISSN

1124-4909

Publisher

Springer International Publishing

Volume

23

Issue

2

First Page

241

Last Page

246

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

Keywords

Acculturation, Affective prime, Arab, Eating disorders, Identity

Scopus ID

85034643507

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Green: A manuscript of this publication is openly available in a repository

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS