Eating disorders in minority ethnic groups

Most studies on eating disorders have focused on white, middle-class women who are usually seen as being at more risk than other groups. Our knowledge of how eating disorders affect other ethnic and socio-economic groups is limited. A U.S. study of 884 first-year students looked at the rates of eating disorders in an ethnically diverse, low-income group and at the risk factors of physical abuse and sexual abuse before and after the age of 13. The study found that 12.2% of the girls and 7.3% of the boys could be diagnosed with an eating disorder. For women child abuse and sexual abuse both contributed equally to the development of an eating disorder while for men only sexual abuse did so. The results show that ethnic minority populations can suffer from relatively high rates of self-reported eating disorders.

Gentile, Katie ... [et al] - It doesn't happen here : eating disorders in an ethnically diverse sample of economically disadvantaged, urban college students Eating Disorders October-December 2007, 15(5), 405-425