Ethnic Differences in Implicit Thin-Ideal Internalization

Past research indicates that Caucasians hold stronger positive views of ultra-thin body types, have greater body dissatisfaction and greater rates of eating disorders than African Americans. However, a number of studies in the last decade have called into question the significant differences between ethnicities in these areas. Previous studies have focused on explicit measures such as questionnaires and figure ratings scales to arrive at this conclusion. Automatic or implicit measures of attitudes are much less used, though they are superior in their accuracy of instant judgments or opinions that may be difficult for participants to articulate. In the current study, implicit attitudes about thin figures were evaluated using an Implicit Association Test (IAT). Variations on the basic IAT were presented including different concepts related to figures, as well as examples of Caucasian as well as African American figures. Ethnic identity, disordered eating measures, body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness scores were used to assess the relationship between these factors and implicit attitudes. Results suggest that there are no significant differences overall between African American, Caucasian, and Biracial women on implicit views of thin figures, however there are several differences within the IAT types. For instance, IATs presenting attributes related to attractiveness elicit greater D scores than those using general positive and negative concepts. Additionally, both African Americans and Caucasians were more likely to hold internalized thin-ideal associations of goodness for thin African Americans than thin Caucasians. Lastly, explicit measures of drive for thinness and problematic eating showed greater disturbances for African Americans relative to the other ethnic groups. Possible explanations and theoretical implications for these findings are discussed. This project contributes to our understanding of how ethno-cultural factors influence internalization of a thin ideal, which in turn maybe be responsible for the onset and maintenance of eating disorders in America.