The Role of Enculturation, Racial Identity, and Body Mass Index in the Prediction of Body Dissatisfaction in African American Women

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the role of enculturation and racial identity in the prediction of body dissatisfaction and weight preoccupation in a sample of African American women. Participants consisted of 278 African American female college students enrolled in a large Midwestern university who completed a racial identity measure, an African American enculturation measure, and body dissatisfaction measures. Simultaneous regression results suggested that preencounter self-hatred attitudes were the only racial identity dimension to significantly predict body dissatisfaction. In addition, the level of enculturation significantly predicted body dissatisfaction, suggesting that African American women who were highly enculturated experienced greater body dissatisfaction. Subsequent mediational analyses found that body mass index fully mediated the relationship between enculturation and body dissatisfaction for African American women. Greater enculturation was associated with a higher body mass index, which in turn predicted greater overweight preoccupation. Study implications are discussed.