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A true picture of eating disorders among African American women: a review of literature

ABNF Journal, The, May-June, 2003 by Indira D. Tyler

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According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (2002), which collects statistics bearing on the relative status of blacks and whites, the number of African Americans enrolled in college was 1,640,700 in 1999. Currently, African Americans represent only eleven percent (11%) of all undergraduates (U.S. Department of Education). Therefore, a true representation of the sample of African American women in the Mulholland & Mintz study is minimal to the broader population of African American women in the United States. The study does recognize "... findings of less eating-disorder symptoms among African American women at predominantly Black versus predominantly Caucasian universities" (Gray et al., 1987; Williams, 1994), but without acknowledging the probable effects of acculturation of those women surveyed. If the African American women surveyed sought to assume the values, attributes, and behavior of their Caucasian peers in order to become an accepted members of the culture, in this case the University, then how can a true prevalence of the eating disorders among the African American subgroup be identified? The small percentage of African American women identified as being eating disordered (2%) and those non-eating disordered participants identified as symptomatic (23%) may have been influenced by the activities of their Caucasian peers who are eating disordered.

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The study excludes external influences that African Americans face; it does not address the day-to-day discrimination African American women face in American society. Further study is needed to examine how stressors such as racism, classism, and sexism influence maladaptive eating regulation responses among African American women and other minorities. As the study implies, there is vast emerging literature on the unique factors associated with eating disorders among African Americans women, which needs to be shared with young women.

As "A Comparison of Black and White Women With Binge Eating Disorder" (Pike et al., 2001) has identified when surveying women diagnosed with binge eating disorder, African American women reported less concern with body shape, weight, and eating than their Caucasian counterparts. This study identified that African American culture impacts attitudinal concern of body image among African American women; African American society is more accepting of larger body shapes and less concerned with dietary restraint. The women recruited for the study were limited; "exclusion criteria were age over 40 and under 18 years, physical conditions know to influence eating habits or weight, current pregnancy, presence of psychotic disorder, not being white or black, or not being born in the United States" (Pike et al., 2001). The study identified that the African American women surveyed experienced higher weight and more frequent binge eating; however, sources of the stressors which stimulate binge eating was not identified. An evaluation of degree of acculturation and other stressors such as racism, classism, and sexism on African American women and their eating disorder was identified by the study as an area of further investigation though not evaluated in the comparison.

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A true picture of eating disorders among African American women: a review of literature

ABNF Journal, The, May-June, 2003 by Indira D. Tyler

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