Food stigma and eating behaviors in white, black, and Latinx American women

This co-presented poster will showcase the findings from the study of a multi-method investigation of food preferences, eating behavior, and stigma in White, Black and Latinx Women in the United States.  Recent public policies have made no secret about the disproportionate rate of obesity among Black American women, followed by Latinx American women.  Certainly in the case of African-American women, traditional diets that have existed since they’re importation into the country have been largely blamed.  To look further into this, the current paper uses survey data from a national United States sample of 300 women (evenly divided by race) to examine both internalized and externalized food stigmas and eating behaviors associated with women’s racial/ethnic identification and their BMI.  Areas addressed include foods stereotyped by race/ethnicity, foods judged negatively, quantities of food judged negatively, secretive eating, foods of highest preference, and foods of most frequent consumption.  Using an online food nutritional rating guide, foods have received nutritional value scores.  Variables including generational status (age as proxy) and socioeconomic status (household income and occupational prestige combined variable) will illuminate relationships between these demographic factors (in addition to race/ethnicity) and the food-related indicators.  These findings might lend insight into the nuances involved in the relationships between food, race/ethnicity and obesity, perhaps allowing for more creative thinking about the maintenance of traditional foods in women of color (particularly if future, qualitative steps find these foods to be meaningful) and improvement of their health.