There are several social and media-stricken images of how society perceives a woman’s body image. There are several reasons that women, both African American and Caucasian American develop a positive perception of their body image based upon modern society trends. This literature shows the differences in eating disorders in both black and white women based upon how society views their body images. Thomas & James (1988), found that African Americans develop a less strict body-image ideal than Caucasian Americans.
The purpose of this literature is to explain how black and white undergraduate women view their body images, in relation to societal issues, family, and peer input, and the effect that it has on developing an eating disorder. This literature shows that black women are more comfortable with their body images, regardless of what society views as the perfect body.
120 female students from a Southeast U.S. university participated voluntarily for extra credit in their classes (Cash, 1990). There were 59 African Americans and 61 Caucasian Americans with Body Mass Index (BMI) averaging 25.0 and 22.1. BMI rates were examined on both ethnicities (Cash 1990). The BMI levels were higher for African American females versus Caucasian American females (Cash, 1990). After eliminating outliers by deleting 10 black and 6 white subjects, groups were again compared and no longer differed on BMI (Cash, 1990). All analyses were conducted with these age-and weight-matched samples of 49 blacks and 55 white females.
A 69-item Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Brown, Cash & Mikulka, 1990; Cash, Winstead & Janda, 1986) was used to assess multiple attitudinal aspects of body image. An Appearance Evaluation and Orientation was also used to measure fat anxiety, weight vigilance, current dieting, and frequency of eating restraints (Cash, Wood, Phelps, & Boyd, 1991). The Body-Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ) is a 19-item inventory, used during this test to display how persons control and conceal their appearance (Rosen, Srebnik, Saltzberg & Wendt, 1991). The 10-item Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale (GFFS; Goldfarb, Dykens & Gerrard, 1985), conveyed feelings and beliefs about obesity. The 10-item Revised Restraint Scale (R Scale; Blanchard & Frost, 1983; Herman & Mack, 1975) tested the Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuations. Developed by Garner, Olmstead, and Polivy (1983), the eating Disorder Inventory is 64-item scale that assessed: Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, Body Dissatisfaction, Ineffectiveness, Perfectionism, Interpersonal Distrust, Interoceptive Awareness, and Maturation Fears. The Body Image Assessment Procedure (BIAP, Williamson, Kelley, Davis Ruggiero, & Blouin, 1985) was used to measure varying body sizes. The Perception of Fatness Procedure assessed how individuals semantically appraise the fatness of body sizes as stimulus objects (Cash, 1990). The results of the study showed African American women viewed their body image more positively and were less likely to develop eating disorders.
References
Blanchard, F. A., & Frost, R. O. (1983). Two factors of restraint: Concern for dieting and weight fluctuation Behaviour Research and Therapy, 21, 259-267.
Brown, T. A., Cash, T. F., & Lewis R. J. (1989). Body-image disturbances in adolescent female binge-purgers: A brief report of the results of a national survey in the U.S.A. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30,
Cash, T. F. (1990). The psychology of physical appearance: Aesthetics, attributes, and images. In T. F. Cash, & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body images: Development, deviance, and change (pp. 51-79). New York: Guilford Press.
Cash, T. F., Winstead, B. A., & Janda, L. H. (1986, April). Body-image survey report: The great American shape-up. Psychology Today, 20, 30-44.
Cash, T. F., Wood, K. C., Phelps, K. D., & Boyd, K. (1991). New assessments of weight- related body image derived from extant instruments. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 73, 234-241.
Garner, D. M., Olmsted, M. P., & Polivy, J. (1983). Development and validation of a multidimensional eating disorder inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2, 15-34.
Goldfarb, L. A., Dykens, E. M., & Gerrard, M. (1985). Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 329-332.
Rosen, J. C, Srebnik, D., Saltzberg, E., & Wendt, S. (1991). Development of a body image avoidance questionnaire. Psychological Assessment, 3, 32-37.
Thomas, V. G. (1989). Body-image satisfaction among black women. Journal of Social Psychology, 129, 107-112.
Williamson, D. A., Kelley, M. L., Davis, C. F., Ruggerio, L., & Blouin, D. C. (1985). Psychopathology of eating disorders: A controlled comparison of bulimic, obese, and normal subjects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 161-166.
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