| Eating disorders are complex, multi-determined illnesses, and are influenced by genetic, psychological, and psychosocial factors. Several explanations of the etiology of eating disorders have been proposed, including objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), which posits that sexually objectifying experiences cause women to objectify their own bodies and value them for their use by others. This self-objectification contributes to body monitoring, body dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety and eating disorders. While disordered eating behaviors are prevalent among undergraduate women, most studies have focused on European American samples. Evidence suggests that ethnically diverse women may be affected by eating disturbances, but less is known about the factors that may increase their risk of, or protect them from, developing eating disorder symptomatology. For example, ethnic identity may serve as a buffer, such that diverse women who identify strongly with their ethnic groups manifest less eating disorder symptomatology. Feminist identity may play a similar buffering role for European American women. The current study evaluated a structural equation model of objectification theory among ethnically diverse undergraduate women (N = 893). Findings indicated that sexual objectification was associated with thin-ideal internalization and body monitoring, which influenced body dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Ethnic and feminist identity were not significant moderators of the relationship between sexual objectification and thin-ideal internalization/body monitoring. Possibly, the measures of ethnic and feminist identity used in the current study were too general. In addition, while the measurement model was not equivalent for European Americans and African Americans, the structural model was invariant between these two groups, suggesting that these constructs may not be adequately measured in both groups. However, the relationships among these variables may be similar, regardless of ethnicity. These results suggest that further validation of eating disorder measures among diverse groups is necessary, as well as the need for the development of new measures that assess eating disorder-related constructs relevant to women of various ethnicities. Additional investigation of risk and protective factors, as well as refinement of assessment instruments, could lead to improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders among ethnically diverse women. |
