Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T00:34:54.212Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eating Behaviour and Attitudes to Weight and Shape in British Women from Three Ethnic Groups

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Bridget Dolan ,
J. Hubert Lacey  and
Chris Evans
Bridget Dolan*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
J. Hubert Lacey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
Chris Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Attitudes towards eating, weight and shape were examined in 479 Caucasian, Afro-Caribbean and Asian British women. The Asian women were found to have significantly more disordered eating attitudes than the Caucasian women, but no difference was found between the three groups in their concern with their body weight and shape. However, while in the Caucasian group disordered eating attitudes were significantly positively correlated with feelings of anxiety and depression, this was not true in the other two groups. Although the concerns of British Afro-Caribbean and Asian women are similar to those of the Caucasian women, there may be ethnic differences in the relationship between feelings about eating, weight and shape and mood.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 157 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 523 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1990 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Bagley, C. (1971) Mental illness in immigrant minorities in London. Journal of Biosocial Science, 3, 449–459.Google Scholar
Bhugra, D. & Kino, M. (1988) Bulimia nervosa amongst Asian schoolgirls (letter). British Medical Journal, 297, 1198.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. (1980) Explaining the lower rates of psychiatric treatment among Asian immigrants to the United Kingdom: a preliminary study. Social Psychiatry, 15, 17–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruch, H. (1965) The psychiatric differential diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. Anorexia Nervosa Symposium, April 1965, Gottingen.Google Scholar
Carpenter, L. & Brockington, I. F. (1980) A study of mental illness in Asians, West Indians and Africans living in Manchester. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 201–205.Google Scholar
Cochrane, R. (1977) Mental illness in immigrants to England and Wales: an analysis of mental hospital admissions, 1971. Social Psychiatry, 12, 25–35.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J., Waterman, G. C. & Fairburn, C. G. (1984) Women with eating problems: a community survey. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23, 45–52.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J., Charnock, D. J. & Taylor, M. J. (1987a) The prevalence of bulimia nervosa: a replication study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 684–686.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, P. J., Taylor, M. J., Cooper, Z., et al (1987b) The development and validation of the body shape questionnaire. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, 485–494.Google Scholar
Cronbach, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.Google Scholar
Dean, G., Walsh, D., Downing, H., et al (1981) First admissions of native born and immigrants to psychiatric hospitals in South East England 1976. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 506–512.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. & Cooper, P. J. (1983) The epidemiology of bulimia nervosa: two community studies. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2, 61–67.Google Scholar
Furnham, A. & Alibhai, N. (1983) Cross-cultural differences in the perception of female body shapes. Psychological Medicine, 13, 829–837.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1979) The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 273–279.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1980) Sociocultural factors in the development of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 10, 647–656.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M., Olmstead, M. P., Bohr, Y., et al (1983) The Eating Attitudes Test: psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12, 871–878.Google Scholar
Gray, J. J., Ford, K., Kelly, L. M. (1987) The prevalence of bulimia in a black college population. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, 733–740.Google Scholar
Holden, N. L. & Robinson, P. H. (1988) Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa in British blacks. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 544–549.Google Scholar
Hsu, L. K. G. (1987) Are the eating disorders becoming more common in blacks? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 6, 113–125.3.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, D. J., Fox, M. M., Babigan, H. M., et al (1980) The epidemiology of anorexia nervosa in Munro County, New York 1960–1976. Psychosomatic Medicine, 42, 551–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendell, R. E., Hall, D. J., Hailey, A., et al (1973) The epidemiology of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 3, 200–203.Google Scholar
King, M. & Mezey, G. (1987) Eating behaviour of male racing jockeys. Psychological Medicine, 17, 249–253.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. & Dolan, B. M. (1988) Bulimia in British blacks and Asians: a catchment area study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 73–77.Google Scholar
Langman, M. J. S. (1986) Towards estimation and confidence intervals. British Medical Journal, 292, 716.Google Scholar
Lawlor, B. A. & Rand, C. S. W. (1985) Bulimia nervosa in a black woman (letter). American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 1514.Google Scholar
London, M. (1986) Mental illness among immigrant minorities in the United Kingdom. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 265–273.Google Scholar
McAvoy, B. R. & Raza, R. (1988) Asian women. Health Trends, 20, 11–17.Google Scholar
Mumford, D. B. & Whttehouse, A. M. (1988a) Increased prevalence of bulimia nervosa amongst Asian Schoolgirls. British Medical Journal, 297, 718.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mumford, D. B. & Whttehouse, A. M. (1988b) Bulimia nervosa amongst Asian schoolgirls (letter). British Medical Journal, 297, 1404.Google Scholar
Murray, J. & Williams, P. (1986) Self-reported illness and general practice consultations in Asian-born and British-born residents of west London. Social Psychiatry, 21, 139–145.Google Scholar
Nasser, M. (1988) Culture and weight consciousness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 32, 573–577.Google Scholar
Nevo, S. (1985) Bulimic symptoms: prevalence and ethnic differences among college women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 4, 151–168.Google Scholar
Norusis, M. J. (1988) SPSS/PC+ V2.0. Chicago: SPSS Inc.Google Scholar
Nylander, I. (1971) The feeling of being fat and dieting in a school population. Acta Socio-Medica Scandanavia, 1, 17–26.Google Scholar
Pumariega, A. J., Edwards, P. & Mitchell, C. B. (1984) Anorexia nervosa in black adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 23, 111–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, P. & Andersen, A. (1985) Anorexia nervosa in American blacks. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 19, 183–188.Google Scholar
Silber, T. (1984) Anorexia nervosa in black adolescents. Journal of the National Medical Association, 76, 29–32.Google Scholar
Thomas, J. P. & Szmukler, G. S. (1985) Anorexia nervosa in patients of Afro-Caribbean extraction. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 653–656.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zigmond, A. S. & Snaith, R. P. (1983) The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatra Scandanavia, 67, 361–370.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.