Mothers, daughters, culture and criticism: An examination of eating problems in adolescent girls.
Item
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Title
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Mothers, daughters, culture and criticism: An examination of eating problems in adolescent girls.
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Identifier
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AAI9807990
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identifier
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9807990
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Creator
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Ritter, Melissa Beth.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Paul L. Wachtel
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Date
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1997
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical | Psychology, Developmental | Sociology, Individual and Family Studies
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Abstract
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Maternal domain-specific criticisms of daughter weight and attractiveness have been found to be significant variables with respect to the presence of a more serious eating problem in an adolescent daughter (Pike & Rodin, 1991). The current study of 47 mother-adolescent daughter dyads attempted to replicate and elaborate upon these findings by exploring (1) the relationship between domain-specific and global maternal criticism with respect to degree of daughter eating problem (2) the salience of "cultural criticism"--broadly defined as media messages about weight and body, as well as peer attitudes--in regard to the severity of a girl's eating problem and (3) the adolescent girl's perception of criticism, both maternal and cultural.;Pike & Rodin's (1991) finding that mothers of daughters with more serious eating problems were more critical of their daughters' weight, regardless of whether the daughters were actually overweight, was replicated {dollar}(p < .05).{dollar} However, in contrast to the findings of Pike & Rodin, the current study found the domain-specific criticism related to a daughter's eating problem was narrowly focussed on weight and did not extend to the domain of overall attractiveness.;Supporting the idea that a daughter can develop a mid-range eating problem without the presence of pervasive psychological difficulty in the mother-daughter dyad, no relationship was found between maternal global criticism and degree of daughter eating problem. It appears that maternal criticism may be limited to the domain of weight when found to relate to the development of a daughter eating problem.;Sensitivity to cultural criticism, in the form of attention and reactivity to media messages regarding weight and body, was found to be correlated with more serious eating problems {dollar}(p < .001),{dollar} as was self-reported belief that friends thought the subject should lose weight {dollar}(p < .001).{dollar} The daughters also reported the media's powerful influence on their conception of the ideal body.;The measurement of perceived criticism suggested that mothers and daughters communicate more clearly with respect to maternal weight criticism {dollar}(p < .01 - .001){dollar} than criticism of overall attractiveness (ns). This is interpreted as syntonic with the salience of cultural proscriptions on the female body.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
