Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2991-2500

Date of Award

8-7-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling and Psychological Services

First Advisor

Cirleen DeBlaere

Second Advisor

Don Davis

Third Advisor

Tamara Turner

Fourth Advisor

Rachel W. Goode

Abstract

Eating disorders (ED) research conducted in the United States (U.S.) has historically underrepresented the unique experiences of racial/ethnic minority women compared to White women (Egbert et al., 2022; Gilbert, 2003). There has been a call to action (e.g., Burke et al., 2020; Simone et al., 2022) for the ED field to focus on how the oppression associated with intersections of identity, not just the identities themselves, contributes to the illness. As such, Chapter 1 of this dissertation assessed the state of current eating disorders (ED) research on mutually exclusive racial/ethnic minority groups of women, as well as the responsible use of intersectionality theory by researchers using content analysis. We found low percentages of novel research focused on each racial/ethnic minority group of women. The themes garnered on ED in Asian American women are that experiences of gendered racism and acculturation-specific pressures lead to ED pathology and that there is not as much focus on physical health comorbidities. The themes pertaining to ED in Black women were that there is a focus on BMI/weight as a comorbid physical health variable, unique factors that interact with ED, and the importance of integrating culture-informed definitions into research and treatment to elucidate ED experiences. Finally, the themes garnered from the articles on Latinas with ED are that they also have higher BMI, tend to use binge/purge ED behaviors, value family-oriented treatment models, and are impacted by acculturative stress and biculturalism. Intersectionality theory was rarely applied explicitly in research on each racial/ethnic minority group of women, though it was peripherally referenced often.

This information was used to inform a subsequent study, Chapter 2 of this dissertation, on how social determinants of health (e.g., gendered racism, trauma, food insecurity) group and predict ED pathology specifically for Black women using latent profile analysis. The sample was 305 Black Atlanta-based college students. Results yielded a four-class solution as the best-fitting model for the data: a Low Intersectional Stress class (n = 176; 57.8%); a Food Insecurity class (n = 75; 24.6%); a High Intersectional Stress class (HIS; n = 30; 9.8%); and a Moderate Intersectional Stress class (n = 24; 7.9%). Compared to the LIS class, the HIS, FI, and MIS classes had statistically significantly higher means on measures of perceived stress and ED pathology. Future directions and limitations are discussed.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/37394214

File Upload Confirmation

1

Download

Share

COinS