Does Culture Matter in Body Image? The Effects of Subjective and Contextual Culture on Body Image among Bicultural Women.

Abstract

Culture shapes the context in which body image is formed, and hence it is a critical component to consider when understanding how body image fluctuates. In this dissertation, I examine two ways culture is relevant to bicultural women. In particular I examine how culture can be experienced internally through identification and externally through cultural cues in the immediate context. With this conception of culture, I explored the relationship between culture and body image in two studies. Study 1a and Study 1b looked at the cognitive aspect of body image by examining body ideals among two types of bicultural groups, Asian American and Black American women respectively. Results from the two studies showed that cultural identity and cultural cues had opposite effects on body ideals. Cultural identification assimilated with culturally-normative body ideals. In contrast, the opposite was true for external cultural cues, exhibiting a contrast effect. Among Asian American women, identification with Asian culture was related to a thinner body ideal, but exposure to Asian cultural cues (relative to American cultural cues) was related to a thicker body ideal. Among Black American women, identification with Black culture was related to a thicker body ideal, but exposure to Black cultural cues (relative to American cultural cues) was related to a thinner body ideal. Study 2 used food as a cultural cue and examined effects of culture on an affective component of body image among Asian American women. Results showed that bicultural identity integration (BII), or perceived compatibility between two cultural identities, moderated the effects of cultural cues. Specifically, those with high BII exhibited contrasting effects, and those with low BII exhibited assimilation effects. Findings showed that the influence of culture on body ideals and body image is complex. These results have important implications both for future research on biculturalism and body image, as well as for creating interventions to improve body image among ethnic minority women in the U.S.