In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

347 17 eating disorders within african american Sororities Tamika C. Zapolski and Gregory T. Smith In mainstream American society, female beauty or attractiveness is typically defined by thinness.1 For example, studies indicate that the body sizes of winners of the Miss America pageants and of Playboy centerfolds have been steadily decreasing over the years.2 It is then no surprise that for many women in the United States, there is an intense perceived pressure to be thin and a strong belief that thinness is a necessary ingredient for beauty.3 For some women, the preoccupation with and the desire for thinness can lead to the development of both clinical and subclinical eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) defines anorexia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by extreme restriction of caloric intake for the purpose of weight control and fat avoidance.4 restrictive behaviors may also be accompanied by purgative methods such as induced vomiting and laxative use, in an attempt to avoid weight gain after eating. Bulimia nervosa is defined as an eating disorder characterized by binge-eating episodes in which large amounts of food are consumed, followed by purgative or nonpurgative compensatory behaviors. Patients with anorexia nervosa fail to maintain a normal body weight, whereas those with bulimia nervosa are often a normal weight or overweight. There is also a third classification of disordered eating referred to as binge-eating disorder. Individuals with this disorder experience extreme, uncontrollable episodes of food consumption over short periods of time. However, they do not resort to inappropriate compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, and they are more likely to be overweight. Although binge eating is not an official diagnosis in the DSM-IV-TR, it is a fairly prevalent disorder; some researchers suggest that it may affect as many as 20 percent of men and women.5 348 Zapolski and Smith Prevalence of and risk Factors for eating disorders The prevalence of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is much higher in women than in men, with approximately 90 percent of those affected being female.6 However, even among women, fully diagnosable clinical disorders are rare. In the general female population, the lifetime prevalence of anorexia nervosa is estimated to be 0.5 percent, and that of bulimia nervosa ranges from 1 percent to 3 percent.7 Among college women, however, the rates may be as high as 5 percent.8 In most cases, these prevalence rates are applicable only to Caucasian women, because historically, most research on eating disorders was conducted with Caucasian women. It was assumed that eating disorders took the same form and had the same prevalence rates in women of other ethnicities, but most studies comparing Caucasian and African American women have found differences between the two groups.9 Striegel-Moore and colleagues report that the odds of detecting bulimia nervosa are six times greater for Caucasian women thanAfricanAmericanwomen.10 Consistentwiththatfinding,afocusonspecific symptoms demonstrates that African American women typically report fewer instancesofrestrictivedietingandself-inducedvomitingthanCaucasianwomen do.11 Conversely, African American women have an equivalent or slightly higher likelihood of reporting binge eating in comparison to Caucasian women.12 Despite these differences, there is evidence that certain risk factors are common among the two groups. In particular, body dissatisfaction and concerns about body image are strong predictors of eating disorders.13 Although body image is a complex phenomenon, researchers have found that it can be divided into two distinct and independent components: attitudinal and perceptual.14 Attitudinal body image involves the degree of satisfaction with one’s body and its parts. Perceptual body image refers to the self-perception of one’s body size and parts, which may be either accurate or distorted. It is significant that African American women consistently exhibit lower rates of dissatisfaction for each type of body image. For example, pertaining to attitudinal body image, Caucasian women report more negative attitudes about their weight and overall appearance than do African American women, even when their weight is within the normal range. Concerning perceptual body image, Caucasian women believe themselves to be heavier than their ideal weight and overestimate their weight more often than African American women do.15 Since African American women appear to have healthier body images and less dissatisfaction with their bodies, they are apparently at less risk for the development of the two eating disorders that emphasize thinness and weight control—anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. [13.58.247.31] Project...

Share