Abstract

GOMEZ-PERESMITRE, Gilda; JAEGER, Bukard; PINEDA GARCIA, Gisela  and  PLATAS ACEVEDO MA, Silvia. Comparing Body Image and Risky Eating Behavior between Mexican and German Women. Rev. Mex. de trastor. aliment [online]. 2012, vol.3, n.1, pp.19-28. ISSN 2007-1523.

Background. Body dissatisfaction is regarded as a powerful risk factor for dietary restraint and bulimic behavior among women. Objective. To compare Mexican and German women's body image and eating risk factors by developing structural models to find similarities or differences between the two samples. Participants. The non-random sample of N = 404 (Mexican: 175; German: 229) medical and nursing students (total Mage = 20.6, SD = 0.86) answered standardized scales (EAT and EDI) and a culture-free 10-silhouette scale on body dissatisfaction. Hypothesis. The main hypothesis proposed that Mexican women will show a stronger relationship between body dissatisfaction and restrained diet than the German women will. Results.The findings confirmed this hypothesis by showing that in the relationship dissatisfaction-dieting, the Mexican group obtained the highest values of the correlation and determination coefficients, compared to the German group. Discussion.Mexican women underestimated their body size, and it could be that body size underestimation lessens social pressure. It is concluded that whether this may be seen as a contradictory result or as a cognitive-defensive strategy in order to minimize the pressure experienced must be decided with further investigation.

Keywords : Mexican and German women; body image; restrained eating; risk factors for eating disorders; structural models.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )