An examination of eating and thinness expectancies as predictors of eating disturbances in females: evidence for cultura
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
An examination of eating and thinness expectancies as predictors of eating disturbances in females: evidence for cultural differences between European American and Chinese college students Mingqi Li1 · Edward C. Chang2 · Olivia D. Chang2 · Abigael G. Lucas2 · Hongfei Yang3 Received: 11 March 2019 / Accepted: 25 July 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract Purpose This study sought to examine the utility of eating expectancy, thinness expectancy, and the interactive role of both, in predicting eating disturbances (viz., bulimic symptoms and drive for thinness) in European American and Chinese female college students. Methods A sample of 237 European American and 221 Chinese female college students completed measures of eating and thinness expectancies and eating disturbances. Results Results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that thinness expectancy significantly predicted increases in both drive for thinness and bulimic symptoms (with these increases being greater for European Americans), whereas eating expectancy predicted increases in bulimic symptoms only. In addition, for European Americans, a significant interaction for bulimic symptoms was found, revealing a synergistic increase in bulimic symptoms for those with both a high thinness expectancy and a high eating expectancy. For Chinese, a significant interaction for drive for thinness was found, demonstrating that for those with a high thinness expectancy, a higher eating expectancy was actually associated with a lower drive for thinness. Conclusion The present findings point to the value of examining for the co-presence of both expectancies in predicting eating disturbances while also highlighting cultural variations in the study of eating pathology. Level of evidence Descriptive cross-sectional study, level V. Keywords Cultural differences · Eating expectancy · Thinness expectancy · Eating disturbances
Introduction Expectancy learning theory (e.g., [1, 2]) posits that one’s expectancies for the consequences of a given behavior are formed based on one’s learning histories that in turn govern one’s future behavioral choices. Individuals tend to choose behaviors from which they expect rewards or reinforcement * Mingqi Li [email protected] * Edward C. Chang [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, DePaul University, 1 East Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604, USA
2
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
3
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
and avoid behaviors from which they anticipate punishment. This view on learning-based expectancy formation has been found to be quite useful when applied to psychopathology. According to Hohlstein, Smith, and Atlas [3], the learned expectancies regarding consequences of eating and thinness will influence individuals’ future eating behaviors and beliefs on thinness. With respect to eating disorders, extreme or dysfunctional eating and diet
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