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Sociocultural Correlates of Eating Disorders among Asian Schoolgirls in Bradford

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David B. Mumford ,
Andrew M. Whitehouse  and
Margaret Platts
David B. Mumford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Leeds, 15 Hyde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LT, formerly at the Transcultural Psychiatry Unit, Lynfield Mount Hospital, Bradford
Andrew M. Whitehouse*
Affiliation:
Carlton Hayes Hospital, Narborough, Leicestershire, formerly Clinical Lecturer, University Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge
Margaret Platts
Affiliation:
Greenhead Grammar School, Keighley
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

A survey of 204 south-Asian and 355 Caucasian schoolgirls was conducted in Bradford using the EAT-26 and the BSQ. At interview, seven Asian girls and two Caucasian girls met DSM–III—R criteria for bulimia nervosa, yielding a prevalence of 3.4% and 0.6% respectively. One Asian girl met DSM–III–R criteria for anorexia nervosa. Factor analyses of the EAT and BSQ supported their cross-cultural conceptual equivalence in this south-Asian population. Among the Asians, high EAT and BSQ scores were associated with a more traditional cultural orientation and not with greater Westernisation. It is probable that these findings reflect the cultural and familial difficulties faced by these Asian girls growing up in Britain.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 158 , Issue 2 , February 1991 , pp. 222 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1991 

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