THE ACCULTURATION GAP, PARENTAL CRITICISM, AND DISORDERED EATING AMONG LATINO/A COLLEGE STUDENTS

Publication Date

4-5-2019

Document Type

Poster

Degree Type

Undergraduate

Department

Psychology

Mentor

Suejung Han

Mentor Department

Psychology

Abstract

Acculturation refers to the process of acquiring values, belief systems, and behaviors of a new culture (Berry, 1997). In immigrant families like Latino/as, children acculturate more and faster than parents, resulting in potential intergenerational conflict due to acculturation gap (Telzer, 2010). Acculturation gap has been associated with decreased psychological functioning among Latino/as (e.g., partaking in risky behaviors, Chun & Mobley, 2014). Acculturation gap may also be associated with their disordered eating, because less acculturated Latino/a parents may make explicit negative comments on their children’s body shapes (Keel, 2017), whereas more acculturated Latino/a children may find them offensive and stressful. In fact, research shows that more acculturated Latino/as show elevated rates of disordered eating (Alegria, 2007), but culture-specific etiologies have not been clarified. This study hypothesized that acculturation gap would be associated with disordered eating via perceived body criticisms by parents and lower body satisfaction among Latino/as. Participants will be recruited via social media postings and flyers in a predominantly Latino/a local community the first author has connections with. Participants will complete an online survey of the study that includes the Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) (Unger at al, 2002), the three-factor eating questionnaire which includes cognitive restraint, emotional eating, and binge eating (Keranen, Strengell, Savolainen, & Laitinen, 2010), body dissatisfaction questionnaire (Berscheid, Walster, & Bohrnstedt, 1973), and a parental comment scale that was created for this study. The IRB proposal is under review, and the full results will be presented at the conference.

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