Body image and eating disturbance in India: Media and interpersonal influences

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The current study was designed to examine the relationships among the variables of body mass index (BMI), interpersonal teasing, media internalization, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness in samples of young adult and middle school females from India. METHOD: Ninety-six adolescent and 93 adult females from Bombay, India, completed measures of body dissatisfaction, restriction, teasing history, and internalization of media images. Correlational and path analytic procedures were used to examine the data. RESULTS: Path analyses indicated that teasing and internalization mediated the effect of BMI on body dissatisfaction and in certain cases influenced drive for thinness. DISCUSSION: These findings replicate and extend previous work with U.S., Australian, and Swedish samples, suggesting that there are similar potential risk factors, cross-culturally, that may explain the development of eating and shape-related problems.