Abstract: Traditionally, body image disturbance and eating disorders have been viewed as a European American female phenomenon but a growing body of evidence suggests that women of color, including African American women, may also be susceptible. The present study investigated the relationships between African and European American women's socioculturally developed attitudes about being attractive and body image, disordered eating, and overall self-esteem. The two attitudes studied were: (1) to be beautiful you must be thin and, (2) to be beautiful you must be White. The second attitude was examined specifically in the African American sample, and was measured using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Participants, 131 African American and 165 European American female college students completed the IAT, Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire, Body Esteem Scale, Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire-Appearance Evaluation subscale, Body Shape Questionnaire-Revised, Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale, Eating Attitudes Test, and a demographic questionnaire. Results supported the hypothesis that African American women exhibit more positive body images, less disordered eating characteristics, and higher overall self-esteem. As expected, analyses suggested that the race differences on body image, disordered eating and self-esteem were mediated by participants' beliefs that being thin is the ideal. However, the results also revealed variance in body satisfaction and disordered eating within both racial groups. Similar to European Americans, African Americans who espoused the thin ideal were more likely to be less satisfied with their bodies, to engage in disordered eating and to report lower self-esteem. Also, African Americans who showed the clearest implicit preference for European American appearance were reported greater dissatisfaction with their bodies and lower self-esteem. Finally, results only partially supported the hypothesis that greater body preoccupation would be associated with greater disordered eating and lower self-esteem in women with greater body dissatisfaction. The hypothesis was only supported with European American women when predicting self-esteem. Overall, the present study showed that similar sociocultural attitudes about beauty may affect African and European American women's body image and that the levels of body image disturbance and eating concerns in the African American community will continue to grow as these European American thin ideals flourish.

The relationship between self-esteem and body image has been well-established such that low levels of self-esteem have been found to be associated with body image concerns. The authors review previous research on the link between low self-esteem and body image concerns and then discuss more recent research concerning the importance of contingent self-esteem in this connection. The next chapter provides a discussion on the commonness of body dissatisfaction among contemporary Western young women and suggests re-embodiment as a means of transforming this experience. Chapter 3 explores the relationship between appearance satisfaction emotional overeating, experiences of racism and BMI among Black and African American women. Ethnic identity plays an important role in the self-concept related to feelings and attitudes. Chapter 4 explores the ethnic differences in self-esteem and body image among adolescents, as well as the need to address ethnicity in prevention programs. The remaining chapters of the book focus on body image in adolescent pregnancy; magazine image influence, extraversion and body image in college males; sociocultural factors, body image factors and self-esteem on school-age males and females, the perception of self-image in older people and how it changes throughout life; an examination of how the way woman perceive themselves influences the psychosexual impact on quality of life; and finally, how people can improve or develop a healthier investment in appearance.

The discussion of race within body image research has for many years been a topic of empirical focus. However, remaining still is a lack of knowledge regarding the unique sociocultural factors that are involved in African American women's experience of body and the development of body dissatisfaction. Racial identity and family background may impact Black women's body attitudes. The proposed study is an exploratory investigation of body dissatisfaction in a sample of African American women college students. Specifically, the role of racial identity and the endorsement of racial socialization messages received from family will be examined. Findings will serve to increase understanding of the sociocultural underpinnings of body image among Black women. Racial identity and racial socialization will be tested as potential predictors of body dissatisfaction through hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Racial identity status will be examined as a potential mediator of racial socialization and body dissatisfaction.

The current study was conducted to determine if differences between Caucasian and African American women's self-esteem; body image satisfaction, and self- perception relative to body mass index scores (BMI) would disappear when SES, and urbanicity are taken into consideration. Sixty-five Caucasian and 47 African American female students from a midsize university in East Texas volunteered to participate in the study. All volunteers were unmarried and ranged in age from 18 to 25 years. Participants completed several measures: The Multidimensional Body Self-Relations Questionnaire (Cash, 2000a) and Body-image Questionnaire (Cash, 2000b), Self-Perception Profile for College Students (Neeman & Harter, 1986), Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Status, and a demographic data sheet. Participants' actual weight, ideal weight, and height were obtained in order to compute their BMI. For the most part, the study hypotheses were supported. Specifically, African Americans reported greater scores in the majority of domains of self-esteem, body image satisfaction, and self-perception than their Caucasian counterparts. However, when SES and urbanicity were introduced as covariates, these differences disappeared for a large number of domains. Implications for future research and possible application of these findings are discussed.

There is a growing knowledge base in understanding the differences and similarities between women and men, as well as the diversities among women and sexualities. Although genetic and biological characteristics define human beings conventionally as women and men, their experiences are contextualized in multiple dimensions in terms of gender, sexuality, class, age, ethnicity, and other social dimensions. Beyond the biological and genetic basis of gender differences, gender intersects with culture and other social locations which affect the socialization and development of women across their life span. This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date resource to understand the intersectionality of gender differences, to dispel myths, and to examine gender-relevant as well as culturally relevant implications and appropriate interventions. Featuring a truly international mix of contributors, and incorporating cross-cultural research and comparative perspectives, this handbook will inform mainstream psychology of the international literature on the psychology of women and gender.

A lack of knowledge exists regarding the sociocultural factors involved in African American women’s experience of body dissatisfaction. This study examined the body image attitudes of African American women through the constructs of racial socialization from family and racial identity. This study was partially exploratory in nature, as few researchers have examined the relation between racial socialization from family and body dissatisfaction. Specifically, this study examined (1) the relationships between endorsement of various racial socialization messages and body dissatisfaction (2) the relationships between racial identity attitudes and body dissatisfaction (3) the role of racial socialization messages and racial identity attitudes in the prediction of body dissatisfaction (4) racial identity attitudes as mediators of the relationship between racial socialization messages and body dissatisfaction. Participants included 187 African American women. The majority of the population was recruited from a large, southwestern, predominantly White university. With regard to racial socialization, results did not support a significant relationship between Protective messages and body dissatisfaction, Coping messages and body dissatisfaction, and Affirmation messages and body dissatisfaction. However, Stereotyping messages were found to be significant and positively related to body dissatisfaction. Results revealed that among racial identity attitudes Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred was significantly and positively related to body dissatisfaction. Findings did not support significant relationships between Pre-Encounter Assimilation, Pre-Encounter Miseducation, Immersion-Emersion Anti-White, Internalization Afrocentric, Internalization Multicultural Inclusive racial identity attitudes and body dissatisfaction. Additionally, Stereotyping messages and Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred were predictive of body dissatisfaction among this sample of African American women. Finally, Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred racial identity attitudes mediated the relationship between Stereotyping messages and body dissatisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.