Differential Associations Between Partner Violence and Physical Health Symptoms Among Caucasian and African American Help-Seeking Women.

The relationship between partner violence and physical health symptoms is well-established. Although some researchers have theorized that the physical health effects of partner violence may be worse for ethnic minority women, there is little research addressing this topic. The current study examined whether African American women demonstrate a differential association in this relationship than Caucasian women.

Race and gender discrimination in the Marines.

Although women of color have been hypothesized to experience double jeopardy in the form of chronic exposure to both race-based (RBD) and gender-based discrimination (GBD; Beal, 1970), few empirical investigations that examine both RBD and GBD in multiple comparison groups have been conducted. In addition to being one of the only simultaneous examinations of RBD and GBD in multiple comparison groups, the current study includes both self-report and objective behavioral data to examine the independent and interactive effects of both forms of discrimination. This study is also the first of its kind to examine these constructs in these ways and to explore their impact in a unique sample of ethnically diverse male and female Marine recruits (N = 1,516).

Trauma, binge eating, and the "strong Black woman".

Objective: The primary goal of this study was to test a culturally specific model of binge eating in African American female trauma survivors, investigating potential mechanisms through which trauma exposure and distress were related to binge eating symptomatology.

Method: Participants were 179 African American female trauma survivors who completed questionnaires about traumatic experiences; emotional inhibition/regulation difficulties; self-silencing (prioritizing others' needs and adopting external self-evaluation standards); eating for psychological reasons; binge eating; and internalization of "Strong Black Woman" (SBW) ideology, an important cultural symbol emphasizing strength and self-sufficiency.

Results: Structural path analysis supported the proposed model in which SBW ideology, emotional inhibition/regulation difficulties, and eating for psychological reasons mediated the relationship between trauma exposure/distress and binge eating.

Ethnic identity and maladaptive eating: expectancies about eating and thinness in African American women.

This research investigated cultural factors and expectancies about eating and thinness among 93 African American women. Participants completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), Eating Expectancy Inventory and Thinness and Restricting Expectancy Inventory (EEI, TREI), and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT). The MEIM assessed affective and developmental aspects of one's own cultural identity, along with attitudes toward other groups.

Psychological correlates of fasting and vigorous exercise as compensatory strategies in undergraduate women.

Vigorous exercise and fasting are commonly used compensatory behaviors. However, it is unknown how non-clinical individuals who engage in one or both of these compensatory behaviors differ from one another. This research compared women who engaged in both fasting and vigorous exercise as compensatory strategies (n=76) with women who engaged in either fasting (n=56) or excessive exercise (n=82) and women who employed no compensatory strategies (n=113) on body image/eating and psychological symptomatology.

The relationships among trauma, stress, ethnicity, and binge eating.

The present study investigated whether trauma, stress, and discriminatory experiences influenced binge eating among 93 African American and 85 Caucasian women. Trauma and stress were significantly related to binge eating for both groups, although the stress- binge eating relationship was stronger for Caucasian women. Ethnicity did not moderate the relationship between trauma and binge eating, but did moderate the stress-binge eating relationship.