A true picture of eating disorders among African American women: a review of literature

Abstract

A review of published studies reveals a serious deficit in scope of eating disorders among African American women. While the "Prevalence of Eating Disorders Among African American Women" (Mulholland & Mintz, 2001), and "A Comparison of Black and White Women With Binge Eating Disorder" (Pike, Dohm, Stiegel-Moore, Wilfley, & Fairburn, 2001) offer substantial findings in an area of under representation, the findings of these studies leave many vacancies in the true picture of eating disorders among African American women. Sufficient examination of the relationship of familial roles, cultural influences, and unique stressors to African American women are not prevalent in the available studies and are not evaluated as substantial influences on maladaptive eating regulation responses.