Discuss Two or More Factors Influencing Attitudes to Food and Eating Behaviour (8 Marks + 16 Marks)

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Discuss two or more factors influencing attitudes to food and eating behaviour (8 marks + 16 marks) Research has found that ethnicity is an important cultural influence in body dissatisfaction and related eating concerns. Powell and Kahn found these attitudes were more characteristic of white women than black or Asian women. Ball and Kennedy found that, regardless of ethnic background, the longer women spent in Australia, the more similar to women born in Australia were their attitudes to food and eating (the ‘enculturation/acculturation effect’) Social class is another important cultural influence in dieting and body dissatisfaction. Dornbusch et al found that among American adolescents, higher class females has a greater desire to be thin and more likely to achieve it than lower class females. Goode et al also found that healthy attitudes to eating were more likely to be found among higher income families. Other research challenges ethnicity as a factor in these attitudes. Mumford et al found that the incidence of bulimia nervosa was higher among Asian schoolgirls than among white schoolgirls. Also, Sriegel-Moore et al found a greater drive to be thin among black girls than among white girls of the same age, which therefore challenges the claim that ethnicity is a key influence in the development of disordered eating. Research challenges the claim that social is important in developing attitudes to food and eating. Story et al found that higher social class was actually associated with greater rather than lower body dissatisfaction and lower rates of behaviour designed to lose weight. Other studies have found no relationship between the two, thus suggesting that social class is not a reliable indicator of eating behaviour. There is a generalisability problem with this research. Some research has studied clinical populations (i.e people diagnosed

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