Weight, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating: Asian American Women's Perspectives

Asian American women experience disordered eating and body dissatisfaction, which puts them at risk for eating disorders and medical complications, as well as depression, anxiety, and related mental health issues. Help-seeking is low, and clinician bias hampers referral for adequate treatment, suggesting need for greater understanding of cultural context. Asian Americans experience many of the same risk factors as do other groups; however, research has not examined their phenomenological experiences of these issues in the cultural context, or their perceptions of what has helped them heal. To address this gap in the literature, modified consensual qualitative analysis (CQR-M) was used to analyze written narratives from 109 Asian American women who identified as having had concerns with weight, body, or eating, out of 354 Asian American women who responded to an online survey on eating behaviors and attitudes, and family relationships. They were asked to describe (a) any problems with weight, body, and eating; (b) their perceptions of the causes; and (c) their perceptions of what had helped them heal (if that was the case). Results indicated that weight gain, mild body dissatisfaction, and desire to be thinner were the most common experiences, and nearly one quarter had engaged in disordered eating. Participants' perceptions of the causes included Asian culture's emphasis on thinness, family criticism of weight, developmental events, and comparison to other Asian women. They reported that positive changes came primarily from social support, increased physical activity, and a shift toward internal validation. Implications for clinical practice are provided.