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The Influence of Acculturative Stress on Body Image Dissatisfaction in a Sample of Female and Male Hispanic Individuals Post Bariatric Surgery

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of acculturative stress on body image dissatisfaction in Hispanic patients post &ndash; bariatric surgery. The conceptual foundation of this study was primarily derived from the social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954), which postulates that most people tend to engage in upward comparison to models seen as superior to them. Acculturative stress was conceptualized as a psychological reaction a person experiences after encountering stressors associated with the process of acculturation. Participants in this study included 160 patients of Hispanic origin from Doctors Hospital at Renaissance who were identified as post-operative between 12 to 24 months. Acculturative stress was assessed with the Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory (MASI), which consists of four factors. Social comparison was assessed with the Comparison to Models Survey. The outcome variable was measured with Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). As predicted, a positive correlation was found between acculturative stress and body image dissatisfaction for the overall sample. The strength of the relationship differed for each acculturative stress factor. The correlations between the different types of acculturative stress were generally stronger for the female participants than for the male participants, with the strongest factor being the pressure to acculturate. Although there was a strong relationship between social comparison tendency and body image dissatisfaction, there were no statistically significant gender differences between these two factors. </p><p> Lastly, the generational status did not yield any significant relationships with body image dissatisfaction. However, there were differences in the type of acculturative stress reported by the different generational status groups. An additional analysis also revealed that disordered eating tendencies played an important role in the body image dissatisfaction in this sample of bariatric patients, whereas depression did not seem to produce a significant change when added to the model.</p><p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:13421375
Date13 December 2018
CreatorsZayed, Liudmila
PublisherFielding Graduate University
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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