Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship among three sociocultural factors (media, family and peer influences), and acculturation, on disordered eating and body image dissatisfaction among male and female Latino adolescents. Participants were (N=303) Latino adolescent male and adolescent female tenth-grade students who were currently enrolled in an English 3–4 class at a public high school. Each participant completed a packet of surveys that contained self-reported items rating their eating attitudes/behaviors, body image dissatisfaction, and acculturation. Two standard multiple regressions revealed that media, family and peer influence predicted 12% of the variability of disordered eating scores and 25% of the variability of body image dissatisfaction score among Latino male and female adolescents. Only two predictor variables, media and peer influence significantly contributed to predicting both disordered eating and body image dissatisfaction. Independent-Samples- t-tests revealed that female adolescents reported significantly greater disordered eating patterns, greater desire for thinness and decreased body size than male adolescents. However, female adolescents did not significantly report greater body image dissatisfaction than male adolescents. Male adolescents reported significantly a greater desire for body muscularity than female adolescents. Pearson's correlation coefficients showed no significant relationships between acculturation, disordered eating, and body image dissatisfaction. As expected: (1) Latino male and female adolescents who have greater influence from media and peers were more likely to have disordered eating; (2) Latino male and female adolescents who have greater influence from media and peers and family pressure were more likely to have greater body image dissatisfaction. However, the prediction that family pressure would influence disordered eating among Latino male and female adolescents was not supported. As hypothesized, females reported greater disordered eating, were more likely to desire thinness and decreased body size than males, and males desired greater body muscularity than females. However, females did not have greater body image dissatisfaction than males. Finally, no relationships were found between acculturation, disordered eating, and body image dissatisfaction. Clinical Implications, limitations, and future directions were discussed.