Factors associated with weight concerns and unhealthy eating patterns among young Korean females
Abstract
Risk factors for weight concerns, unhealthy eating patterns, and clinical eating disorders have been examined primarily among western countries. Thus it would be inappropriate to use them as a basis for interventions in minority and nonwestern cultures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with weight concerns and unhealthy eating patterns among young Korean females. Korean female students (N = 267 college and 266 high school students) completed the previously validated Korean Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2), the Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R), and additional questions designed to identify risk factors. In multiple regression analyses, five factors were identified as potential risk factors for anorexia nervosa among these Korean students (body dissatisfaction, the effects of media's emphasis on thinness, interoceptive awareness, diet-related behavior/beliefs, and internalization of socio-cultural messages). Also, six factors (body dissatisfaction, interoceptive awareness, diet-related behaviors/beliefs, the effects of media's emphasis on thinness, being teased about weight, and negative parental attitudes toward eating patterns and weight control) were associated with potential bulimia nervosa among the Korean students. Further, in logistic regression analyses, six factors (beliefs/trust in diet-related products/advertisements, consideration/action of weight loss behavior, interoceptive awareness, BMI ≥ 21, negative parental attitudes toward eating patterns and weight control, and interpersonal distrust) and five factors (the effects of media's emphasis on thinness, DBMI, beliefs/trust in diet-related products/advertisements, family disconnectedness, and peer influence on diet) were identified as potential risk factors for bulimia nervosa, and dieting, respectively. The findings of this study also revealed that a significant proportion of Korean females exhibited unhealthy eating patterns and weight loss behavior on a regular basis (69.2% and 58.3% of the college and the high school students tried to lose weight, respectively; and the prevalence of bulimia nervosa was 4.6% and 1.5% for the college and high school students, respectively). Based on these results, effective prevention strategies can be designed to target risk factors of unhealthy eating patterns among female high school and/or college students in Korea. Such prevention strategies may, in turn, contribute to reducing the future prevalence of clinical eating disorders among young Korean females.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Lyle, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Public health|Womens studies|Psychotherapy
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