Sociocultural Influences on Disordered Eating in Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African American Women: A Population Gap Research Study Examining the Roles of Acculturative Stress and Family, Peer, and Media Pressures

Abstract Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African (A-MENA) Americans are historically excluded from body image and eating disorder research; more specifically, no study to date examined sociocultural risk factors for disordered eating in this population. The current study is a secondary analysis (Kalantzis et al., Eating Behaviors, 53 , 101868, 2024) from a mixed-methods study, which found, through qualitative feedback on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, bicultural identity and family appearance pressures may be relevant when examining general eating, shape, and weight concerns in this population. From a non-clinical sample of A-MENA American women ( N = 244), pressures from family, peers, and media were associated higher internalization of thin-ideal above and beyond the effect of acculturative stress. Media pressure showed a larger effect size than peer pressure and family pressure in predicting the internalization of thin-ideal. Internalization of thin-, not muscular-, ideal was related to higher disordered eating, above and beyond the effect of acculturative stress. Findings suggest elements of the tripartite influence model in A-MENA American women with the inclusion of acculturative stress may be relevant in relation to global disordered eating. These findings should be utilized to explore further culturally relevant variables in A-MENA American women.