ABSTRACT
Eating disorders are most likely to occur in females from industrialized nations (American Psychiatric Association 2000), and appear to be less common among some ethnic subgroups (Striegel-Moore et al. 2003). These patterns raise questions about how membership of a given culture, ethnic group and gender influence disordered eating. We review literature that addresses cultural influences on eating disorders. In addition, we examine how social factors, such as peer and family environment, influence risk. We view social and cultural factors as representing levels of influence. However, the organization of this review is not meant to imply a unidirectional order of influence. For example, gender is
negotiated within cultural and ethnic groups, yet certain aspects of gender may transcend cultural or ethnic group boundaries (Safir et al. 2005).
