Culture to Culture: Fat-Phobia and Somatization

Al-Adawi, Samir; Jaju, Sanjay; Al-Zakwani, Ibrahim; Dorvlo, Atsu S. S.

doi:10.1007/978-0-387-92271-3_94

Samir Al-Adawi⁴,
Sanjay Jaju,
Ibrahim Al-Zakwani &
…
Atsu S. S. Dorvlo

557 Accesses
5 Citations

Abstract

It has been extensively reported that food ingestion patterns and eating practices vary from culture to culture. However, there is a paucity of studies examining the role of culture and ethnicity in the area of eating disorders and its manifestations. We attempt to address this issue with special focus on a pioneering study comparing the performance of indices of deliberate food restriction (Eating Attitude Test), laparophobia (Eating Disorder Inventory), and tendency toward utilizing psychosomatically expressed psychological distress (Bradford Somatic Inventory) in Western and non-Western populations. The results suggest that non-Western teenagers have increased propensity toward deliberate food restriction and somatization while Western teenagers show a greater tendency toward laparophobia. The findings have implications for determining what is universal versus what is cultural in food ingestion patterns and eating practices in order to lay the groundwork for understanding their pathological counterparts, as well as to appreciate the pluralism in disordered eating in the much-heralded globalized world.

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Abbreviations

EAT-26:: Eating Attitude Test-26
EDI:: Eating Disorder Inventory
DSM:: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
ICD:: International Classification of Disease
BSI:: Bradford Somatic Inventory
BMI:: Body mass index

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Acknowledgements

We thank the staff and pupils of the schools involved for their help and time in co-operating so fully with this study. We are grateful to Rodger G. Martin, Nonna Viernes and P.C. Alexander for both technical support and facilitating data collection.

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Department of Behavioral Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoudh 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
Samir Al-Adawi

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Samir Al-Adawi
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Sanjay Jaju
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Ibrahim Al-Zakwani
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Atsu S. S. Dorvlo
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Correspondence to Samir Al-Adawi .

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Dept. Nutrition & Dietetics, King's College, Stamford St. 150, London, SE1 9NH, United Kingdom
Victor R. Preedy
Arizona Health Science Center, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public, University of Arizona, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. Room 4335, Tucson, 85724-5155, Arizona, USA
Ronald Ross Watson
University of the West of Scotland, Ayr Campus, Ayr, KA8 0SR, United Kingdom
Colin R. Martin

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Al-Adawi, S., Jaju, S., Al-Zakwani, I., Dorvlo, A.S.S. (2011). Culture to Culture: Fat-Phobia and Somatization. In: Preedy, V., Watson, R., Martin, C. (eds) Handbook of Behavior, Food and Nutrition. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-92271-3_94

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-92271-3_94
Published: 31 January 2011
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-92270-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-92271-3
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