AUTHOR=Obleada Katrina T. , Bennett Brooke L. 

TITLE=Moderation Effects of Ethnic-Racial Identity on Disordered Eating and Ethnicity Among Asian and Caucasian Americans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.594391

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.594391

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Background: The current study was designed to examine whether ethnic-racial identity moderated the relationship between disordered eating and primary ethnic identification. 
Methods: Three hundred and ninety-eight undergraduate females (Mage = 19.95, SD = 3.09) were recruited from a large university in Hawai‘i. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, the Ethnic-Racial Identity measure (ERI), and reported their primary ethnicity as an index of ethnicity. 
Results: There was a significant correlation between eating concerns and centrality r(357) = .127, p < .05.  Moderation analyses indicated that only ERI centrality moderated the predictive effect of ethnicity on the importance of eating concerns, b =.05, t(347) = 2.37, p=.018. 
Conclusions: Results suggest the relationship between self-reported primary ethnicity and EDEQ scores is greater when ethnicity is more central to the individual’s identity or when in-group affect is important to an individual. Findings warrant further research on the underlying mechanisms that account for the differing ways ethnic-racial identity may affect eating concerns.