Date of Award

1997

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

First Advisor

Marilyn Patterson

Second Advisor

Edward Doerr

Third Advisor

Pamela Nickels

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the similarities and/or differences in body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness between Caucasian and African-American college women. The Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2) as well as questions measuring hours spent reading women's magazines and family, close friends, and significant other's view on the importance of physical thinness was distributed to 18 to 25 year old African-American and Caucasian college women at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE). The EDI-2 is a self-report questionnaire that consists of 91 questions which generate 11 independent subscales. Only 3 of the II subscales were analyzed: I) Drive for Thinness, 2) Body Dissatisfaction, and 3) Social Insecurity. A total of 66 women participated in the study; 25 African-Americans and 41 Caucasians. This study found that Caucasian College women had greater body dissatisfaction and a greater drive for thinness than African-American college women. Moreover, Caucasian college women perceived physical thinness as being more important to their family, close friends, and significant others than African-American college women. These findings support previous research that there is greater body dissatisfaction and a greater amount of eating disorder behavior ( e.g., drive for thinness) among Caucasian college women than African-American college women.

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