Black Undergraduate And White Undergraduate Eating Disorders And Related Attitudes - Racial Differences in Eating Disorders

Written by Linda Nielsen

Mother's Mental Health and Marital Status

Regardless of her race, a mother's own happiness and mental health can also have an indirect impact on the chances of her daughter's developing an eating disorder. Researchers have known for some time that girls who are clinically depressed are the most likely to develop eating disorders (Fisher. 1991; Hesse-Biber. 1996; Gilligan, Rogers, & Tolman. 1991; Harrington. 1994; Lask & Waugh. 1999; Orenstein. 1994; Pipher. 1994; Walsh & Devlin. 1998). Unfortunately, most depressed daughters also have a mother who is depressed or chronically unhappy and profoundly dissatisfied with her own life (Bassoff. 1994; Blain & Crocker. 1993; Blechman. 1990; Buchanan & Seligman. 1994; Dadds. 1994; Downey & Coyne. 1990; Gottlieb. 1995; Harrington. 1994; Miller. 1994; Parke & Ladd. 1992; Radke-Yarrow. 1991; Scarf. 1995; Seligman. 1991; Tannenbaum & Forehand. 1994).

Along these lines, if the mother is a divorced, single parent, she is more likely to be depressed and to relate to her children in ways that interfere with their social, sexual, and psychological well-being. In contrast, when a divorced mother has happily re-married, her children are less likely to develop problems such as depression, an intense fear of growing up, extreme anxiety about sexuality, or an inability to be emotionally intimate with people their age - the kinds of problems that seem to increase a daughter's chance of developing an eating disorder (Ahrons. 1994; Ambert. 1996; Berman. 1992; Block. 1996; Brooks-Gunn. 1994; Buchanan, Maccoby, & Dornbusch. 1997; Caron. 1995b; Chapman, Price, & Serovich. 1995; Emery. 1994; Furstenberg & Cherlin. 1991; Garvin, Kalter, & Hansell. 1993; Gottlieb. 1995; Guttman. 1993; Handel & Whitchurch. 1994; Hetherington. 1991; Lansdale, Cherlin, & Kiernan. 1995; McLanahan & Sandefur. 1994; Mo-yee. 1995; Scarf. 1995; Nielsen. 1993; Nielsen. 1999a; Silverstein & Rashbaum. 1994; Wallerstein. 1991; Warshak. 1992; Weiss. 1994).

The Father-Daughter Relationship

The kind of relationship the daughter has with her father also seems to have an impact on her feelings about her own weight, her dieting, and her likelihood of developing an eating disorder. Among whites, the daughter who has a close relationship with her father is generally less likely to develop an eating disorder than the girl who has a very distant or no relationship at all with her father. Similarly, the daughter whose father lets her know that he disapproves of women being extremely thin and approves of her becoming a sexual person is also the least likely to develop an eating disorder or to diet excessively. In contrast, if the daughter gets the sense that her father wants her to act like a non-sexual, dependent, childish little girl, she may develop an eating disorder partly in an attempt to keep the body of a child and to postpone her sexual development. And if she feels her father only finds extremely thin women attractive, she herself may diet excessively or become anorexic as a way of winning his approval (Clothier. 1997; Goulter & Minninger. 1993; Maine. 1993; Marone. 1998b; Popenoe. 1996; Secunda. 1992).

Racial Attitudes Towards Therapy

Finally we should note that when black females have emotional or psychological problems, they may be less likely than white females to seek help from professional therapists or physicians. In part this might be because black females are more apt to be raised with the believe that women have to take care of everyone else rather than than seeking help for themselves. It might also be that black Americans are more likely to believe that everyone ought to handle their emotional or psychological problems within the family or through the church instead of seeking help from psychologists or psychiatrists - especially since most professional therapists are white. But for whatever reasons, if black girls and women are more reluctant to seek help, then they run a greater risk than whites do of getting professional help for serious disorders such as depression or anorexia. (Boyd. 1998; Danquah. 1999; Mitchell & Croom. 1998).

Rationale For The Present Study

Given the many variables that might influence a young woman's attitudes about her weight and the chances of her being anorexic, we gathered various kinds of information from black and from white college women. First, given the possibility that a daughter's relationship with her parents and family factors such as divorce might be influential, we asked each student whether her parents were still married to each other and how good a relationship she had with each parent. Second, to explore the impact of society's attitudes, we asked how much pressure each felt to be thin, how much her relatives had ever criticized their weight, and whether her parents had ever discussed anything about eating disorders. Third, in exploring the possible impact of self-esteem and the quality of their relationships with roommates and boyfriends, we asked how much self esteem these women felt they had and how good a relationship they had with their boyfriend and roommates. Fourth, we asked how satisfied they were with their present weight, how often they dieted, how afraid they were of gaining weight, and whether they or anyone they knew had ever had an eating disorder. We also asked how many people they knew with eating disorders and whether they had ever said anything to those people about their disorders. For those who themselves had eating disorders, we asked if they had ever been in therapy and at what ages they had their disorder. Finally, we examined how race and age were related to these young women's attitudes and behavior which was especially important on this particular campus because the school is predominantly white and upper middle class - a situation that is the most likely to promote excessive dieting and anorexic behavior and attitudes.

Sample and Methods

A sample of 56 black females and 353 white females was randomly selected from the undergraduate population in a small, southern, coeducational, predominantly white, private university. The sample represented almost one third of the university's 170 black female undergraduates and 21% of the 1680 white female undergraduates. The surveys were administered in the spring of 1999 to an equal number of first, second, third and fourth year students.