2007

In the past few decades, increasing empirical attention has focused on factors related to women’s perception of their own body weight and appearance. Reports of negative body image in women have been empirically linked with a higher incidence of depression (Denniston, Roth, & Gilroy, 1992), heightened anxiety, lowered self-esteem (Thompson & Altabe, 1991), growing demands for plastic surgery (Pruzinsky, 1996), and increased spending for items claiming to guarantee weight loss (Brownell & Rodin, 1994). In addition, a growing body of literature has supported several social variables as mediating a woman’s susceptibility to a negative body image, including internalization of and acculturation to Western media and societal ideals (Brown, Cash, & Mikulka, 1990; Dolan, 1991; Joiner & Kashubeck, 1996; Perez, Voelz, Pettit, & Joiner, 2002). Despite a long history of media and empirical attention to body image and eating behaviors of women, the existing body of professional literature and empirical research devoted to these issues is limited in its ability to generalize beyond adolescent females and young women of Anglo descent and Middle- to Upper-Class social status. Literature examining these issues in other populations has been scarce, with literature related to young women of Hispanic descent being particularly limited.