Feminist Identity Attitudes, Negative Affect, and Eating Pathology in African American College Women

Abstract

African American women are believed to have unique experiences related to eating pathology partially because of the intersection of gender and race in Western society. Investigations of negative affect and identity development as predictors of eating pathology in African American women have yielded mixed results; however, feminist identity development is yet to be examined as a predictor of eating problems in this group. Therefore, the current study investigated feminist identity attitudes, anxiety, and depression as predictors of eating pathology in 98 African American college women. Interestingly, most of the participants endorsed a “Synthesis” feminist identity style. However, negative affect emerged as the only significant predictor of eating pathology. These findings are congruent with previous research that supports significant relations between anxiety, depression, and eating disturbance in women.