Abstract

Prior research has indicated that the prevalence of eating disorders, which are recognized as one of most lethal psychological disorders with an approximately 20% mortality rate, are increasing among Asian Americans with rates comparable to those of the general population in the United States. However, research has also suggested that Asian Americans may not be fully reporting symptoms related to eating disorders because of sociocultural stigma and the desire to uphold cultural values, such as interdependence, harmony within the community, humility, and emotional restraint. The SATAQ-4R is a widely-used measure of sociocultural influences on body image and eating disturbance, which includes different forms for females and males. However, few studies have performed a psychometric evaluation of the SATAQ-4R among Asian Americans. Thus, the aims of the current study were to explore the factor structure of the SATAQ-4R and evaluate the reliability and validity of the SATAQ-4R in Asian Americans women and men. Participants were 97 Asian Americans (61.9% female), aged 18-25 (M = 20.87, SD = 2.29), and a mean BMI of 24.70 (SD = 5.49) recruited from university subject pools as well as the community via flyers. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the factor structure of the SATAQ-4R-Female and Male, and convergent validity was measured using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients between the SATAQ-4R subscales and the EDEQ, EDI-3-BD, MBSRQ-AE, and RSES. Fit indices indicated that the SATAQ-4R-Female and Male were not well fit for the data in Asian American women and men. However, both the SATAQ-4R-Female and Male demonstrated adequate overall convergent validity in Asian American women and men. Results support previous research on eating disorders and body image disturbance in Asian Americans, indicating that there may, indeed, exist sociocultural influences that are different for Asian Americans than for those of other ethnic groups. However, the current study consisted of small sample sizes of females and males and therefore, results should be interpreted with caution and further study involving larger samples are needed. Further research could provide valuable information on how to address eating disorders among Asian Americans in a culturally appropriate manner.

LLU Discipline

Clinical Psychology

Department

Psychology

School

School of Behavioral Health

First Advisor

Herbozo, Sylvia M.

Second Advisor

Boyd, Kendal C.

Third Advisor

Brenner, Colleen A.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Level

Ph.D.

Year Degree Awarded

2018

Date (Title Page)

6-2018

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Body Image; Self-Assessment; Self Concept; Asian Americans; Eating disorders

Subject - Local

Sociocultural influences; Cultural values; Psychometric evaluation

Type

Thesis

Page Count

83

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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