IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v59y2013i8p729-738.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of spirituality on eating disorder symptomatology in ethnically diverse Canadian women

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer A Boisvert
  • W Andrew Harrell

Abstract

Background: There is currently a gap in our knowledge of how eating disorder symptomatology is impacted by spirituality and religiosity. To date, studies examining the role of ethnicity in women’s self-reported levels of eating disorder symptomatology have neglected the roles of spirituality and religiosity. Aims: This study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating ethnicity, spirituality, religiosity, body shame, body mass index (BMI) and age in relation to eating disorder symptomatology in women. Methods: A representative non-clinical sample of ethnically diverse Canadian women (N = 591) was surveyed. Results: Younger women, particularly those with higher body shame, BMI and lower spirituality, reported more eating disorder symptomatology. Hispanic and Asian women had higher body shame and lower BMI compared to white women. Spirituality was more strongly related to eating disorder symptomatology than religiosity. Conclusions: This is the first study identifying interactive relationships between ethnicity, spirituality, body shame, BMI and age on eating disorder symptomatology in women. Particularly significant is that higher spirituality was related to a lower level of eating disorder symptomatology. These findings have important implications for treatment and women’s physical and psychological health and wellness.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer A Boisvert & W Andrew Harrell, 2013. "The impact of spirituality on eating disorder symptomatology in ethnically diverse Canadian women," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(8), pages 729-738, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:59:y:2013:i:8:p:729-738
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764012453816
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764012453816
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764012453816?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maselko, Joanna & Kubzansky, Laura D., 2006. "Gender differences in religious practices, spiritual experiences and health: Results from the US General Social Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2848-2860, June.
    2. Levin, Jeffrey S., 1994. "Religion and health: Is there an association, is it valid, and is it causal?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1475-1482, June.
    3. Levin, Jeffrey S., 1996. "How religion influences morbidity and health: Reflections on natural history, salutogenesis and host resistance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(5), pages 849-864, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jelena Pokimica & Isaac Addai & Baffour Takyi, 2012. "Religion and Subjective Well-Being in Ghana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(1), pages 61-79, March.
    2. Sawchuk, Lawrence A. & Tripp, Lianne & Melnychenko, Ulianna, 2013. "The Jewish Advantage and Household Security: Life Expectancy among 19th Century Sephardim of Gibraltar," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 360-370.
    3. Alexi Gugushvili & Martin McKee & Michael Murphy & Aytalina Azarova & Darja Irdam & Katarzyna Doniec & Lawrence King, 2019. "Intergenerational Mobility in Relative Educational Attainment and Health-Related Behaviours," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(1), pages 413-441, January.
    4. Berggren, Niclas & Ljunge, Martin, 2017. "Does Religion Make You Sick? Evidence of a Negative Relationship between Religious Background and Health," Working Paper Series 1173, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Ahmed M. Abdel-Khalek & David Lester, 2012. "Constructions of religiosity, subjective well-being, anxiety, and depression in two cultures: Kuwait and USA," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 58(2), pages 138-145, March.
    6. Jonathan Gruber, 2005. "Religious Market Structure, Religious Participation, and Outcomes: Is Religion Good for You?," NBER Working Papers 11377, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Schenk, Niels & van Poppel, Frans, 2011. "Social class, social mobility and mortality in the Netherlands, 1850-2004," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 401-417, July.
    8. Maselko, Joanna & Hughes, Cayce & Cheney, Rose, 2011. "Religious social capital: Its measurement and utility in the study of the social determinants of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(5), pages 759-767, September.
    9. Esa Mangeloja, 2005. "Economic growth and religious production efficiency," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(20), pages 2349-2359.
    10. Janice Bell Meisenhelder & Emily N. Chandler, 2000. "Faith, Prayer, and Health Outcomes in Elderly Native Americans," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 9(2), pages 191-203, May.
    11. Michael B. Whiteford, 2002. "Staying Healthy: Evangelism and Health Perception Differences by Gender in a Guatemalan Marketplace," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 583(1), pages 177-194, September.
    12. Zamani-Farahani, Hamira & Musa, Ghazali, 2012. "The relationship between Islamic religiosity and residents’ perceptions of socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Iran: Case studies of Sare’in and Masooleh," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 802-814.
    13. Rick Sawatzky & Pamela Ratner & Lyren Chiu, 2005. "A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship Between Spirituality and Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 153-188, June.
    14. Guiso, Luigi & Sapienza, Paola & Zingales, Luigi, 2003. "People's opium? Religion and economic attitudes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 225-282, January.
    15. Olga Popova, 2016. "Suffer for the Faith? Parental Religiosity and Children’s Health," Working Papers 356, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    16. Maksym Bryukhanov & Igor Fedotenkov, 2017. "Religiosity and Life Satisfaction in Russia: Evidence from the Russian Data," HSE Working papers WP BRP 180/EC/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    17. Kan, Kamhon & Tsai, Wei-Der, 2004. "Obesity and risk knowledge," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 907-934, September.
    18. Lehrer, Evelyn L., 2005. "Religious Affiliation and Participation as Determinants of Women's Educational Attainment and Wages," IZA Discussion Papers 1725, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Esa Mangeloja, 2004. "Economic Growth and Religious Production Efficiency," DEGIT Conference Papers c009_040, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    20. James Schuurmans-Stekhoven, 2011. "Is it God or Just the Data that Moves in Mysterious Ways? How Well-Being Research may be Mistaking Faith for Virtue," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 100(2), pages 313-330, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:59:y:2013:i:8:p:729-738. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.