This study focused on Arabs and Jewish pre-service teachers' perception of body image. Body image is a major component of our well-being. Western culture attributes specific characteristics to women based on their body shapes, which significantly influences their functioning. The aim of this study was to examine cultural differences in attitudes…

Purpose: This review systematically analyzed BID among young women of developing nations after these women's consumption of Western media. We explored changes in women's exposure to Western media alongside changes in body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders. Reoccurring themes of internalization across populations of women are discussed.…

This study explores how young Bhutanese-Nepali refugee women experience racism within and outside of school settings. Using data collected from a 16-month community-based culturally responsive leadership project, we document how everyday racial othering impacts the youth's already fragile sense of identity and belonging. We explore how racial…

Body dissatisfaction is normative among European American women, and involvement with predominant culture or linking self-worth to weight may intensify the association between body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness for women of color. Our study investigated whether orientation to other ethnic groups (Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure) and…

Public health research has been dominated by the biomedical model, which does not appear to be appropriate for studying public health variables across different populations. For example, when comparing the Hispanic American (HA) and African American (AA) population in the U.S., there are similarities on several demographic and public health…

Because religions discipline and interpret bodies; create and define sacred spaces; generate, adore and study images in all media; regulate the intake of food; structure temporal experience; and in general interpenetrate and are permeated by the cultural landscapes in which they exist, religious studies must engage material religion and religious…

The purpose of "Picturing Peace", a digital photography program conducted in 4th and 5th grade classrooms in the U. S. and Northern Ireland, was to enhance students' photographic skills to create visual metaphors of the concept of peace. Two principal research questions were addressed: (a) Could 9-10 year-old students create apt and…

Childhood obesity is increasingly prevalent in Western and non-Western societies. The authors related multiple dimensions of physical self-concept to body composition for 763 Chinese children aged 8 to 15 and compared the results with Western research. Compared with Western research, gender differences favoring boys were generally much smaller for…

According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, childhood obesity rates are highest among ethnic minorities. It is very helpful to consider the role of culture when attempting to analyze and explain obesity rates in ethnic minority populations. Culture influences the attitudes and beliefs toward exercise, food and nutrition, and…

Interviewed 26 lesbian college students about body image concerns and lesbian identity. Results indicate that these young lesbians had a body ideal that included thinness and fitness. The complexity of lesbians' feelings about their bodies and conflicts between lesbian and mainstream body image values are explored. (SLD)

This study explores the female body ideal and its implications for health and fitness practices in African-American culture. Employing Patricia Hill Collins's (1986) notion of the "outsider-within," we analyze a focus group discussion on women's body ideals, exercise, and fitness. Our group comprises 9 young, college-educated African-American…

The evolution of values and standards of behavior as they relate to the body in culture are examined, especially in light of recent trends toward recognition of the natural and the spontaneous, the positive value placed on sexuality, and at the same time, narcissism and emphasis on youth. (MSE)

School health education needs to build a broad base of awareness, tolerance, and sensitivity to different expressions of healthy behavior while maintaining scientific accuracy. This can only be accomplished through exposing children to the various types of health knowledge found in different cultures. Health education involves helping students:…

The universality of the childhood experience is a perspective that is useful in the classroom where the student body reflects the multiethnic, multicultural roots of American culture. The novels from the Caribbean can add new material to the body of world literature and should be included in a crosscultural study of the "bildungsroman"…

College students in Ghana (n=349) and the United States (n=219) completed questionnaires about perceptions about weight, dieting, and ideal bodies. Students in Ghana were more accepting of large body size. Findings illustrated that perceptions of ideal body size and corresponding behaviors are influenced by culture and gender. (SLD)