Body Image and Ethnicity: Hispanic Women

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The cultural context of Hispanic body image

• Cultural commonalities and diversity

  • Attractiveness more broadly defined

  • promoting traditional values and feminine role → body dissatisfaction

  • Cultural fatalism: Less likely to question their culture

• Acculturation

  • modification and incorporation of ethnic and dominant cultures

  • latino culture experiences acculturation all over world and American culture heavily exported

Acculturation: Pompper & Koenig (2004)

• Younger generation: Emphasis on thin ideal of mainstream (magazine makes them more conscious of thin-deal to be desired in society)

• Older generation: Emphasis on health and well-being over attaining a skinny body

• Hispanic culture is still more accepting and respectful of larger women, but those with high acculturation tend to identify with White ideals

Acculturation: Menon & Harter (2012)

• Attempt to distance from negative stereotypes

METHOD:

• Acculturative stress related to anxiety, depression, suicidality, and eating behaviors

• Acculturative stress moderates relationship between sociocultural pressure to be thin and thin-deal internalization

• 252 self-identified Latina college females in the US

  • Acculturative stress

  • awareness of thin-deal

  • perceived social support

  • body esteem

  • body-area satisfaction

  • OUTCOME: body image disturbances, BID (composed of body esteem and body satisfaction)

FINDINGS:

• Acculturative stress associated with body-image problems via thin-deal internalization

• Those who perceive social support from family and friends are less likely to experience acculturative stress and body-image disturbances

• Hispanic women who feel strong pressure to adhere to mainstream cultural value tend to be dissatisfied with their body areas and have low body esteem

• Those who feel accepted and supported in their local culture can see themselves with more positive light and have better body image

Beyond Weight-Related Body Image

• Endorsement of feminine role associated with desire for larger breasts (breasts represent femininity where they can emphasize their femininity)

• Greater appearance investment

• Studies examining Hispanic females’ experiences with their skin color are limited

Beyond Weight-Related Body Image Stephens & Fernandez (2012)

LITERATURE REVIEW

• Light skin = higher social status; dark skin = lower social status

  • colonialism

• “Hispanic skin” = sexualized in media

• 34 Hispanic college females ages between 18 and 24

• Themes:

  1. Shintone had a relationship to self-identification experiences (pale skin is important symbol of authentic hispanic identity)

  2. Skin color influence on physical attractiveness ideals

  3. Skin color has relevance in early dating contexts (dark and very light skin are “un”Hispanic) (skin color is an important tool that men use to categorize potential dating preferences)