ORIGINAL ARTICLE
The UCLA Body Project II: Breast and Body
Dissatisfaction among African, Asian, European,
and Hispanic American College Women
Gordon B. Forbes
&
David A. Frederick
Published online: 5 December 2007
#
Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract Breast and global body dissatisfaction were
examined in Asian (n=237), European (n=196), Hispanic
(n=109), and African (n=58) American college women.
Asian American women reported the lowest body satisfac-
tion on the Appearance Evaluation Scale (Cash, T. F. The
multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire users’
manual: 3rd revision, 2000) and greatest breast dissatisfac-
tion on one of two breast dissatisfaction measures. Ethnic
differences in breast dissatisfaction, but not in body
dissatisfaction, disappeared when body size (BMI) was
statistically controlled. Results were consistent with re-
search showing that (1) ethnic differences in body dissat-
isfaction are small, (2) studies of ethnic differences must
include appropriate controls for total or specific body size,
and (3) Asian college women report lower global body
satisfaction than women of African, European, or Hispanic
heritage.
Keywords Breast dissatisfaction
.
Body dissatisfaction
.
Body image
.
Ethnicity
Introduction
Most of the extensive literature on body dissatisfaction has
emphasized the experience of Western women of European
descent and has focused on dissatisfaction with weight.
This emphasis has been understandable because of the
strong link between weight dissatisfaction and disordered
eating (e.g., Stice and Shaw 2002). However, an unintended
consequence of the emphasis on weight has been the
availability of only limited information on the extent which
women are dissatisfied with specific physical features.
Dissatisfaction with breast size is a particularly important
matter to examine because feelings about one’s breasts have
been linked to general psychological well-being (Koff and
Benavage 1998) as well as the pursuit of invasive surgical
techniques for modifying one’s breast size (Didie and
Sarwer 2003).
Although ethnic minorities comprise about 31% of U.S.
women (U. S. Census Bureau 2001), very little is known
about the experiences minorities have with specific aspects
of their bodies (Altabe 1998; Grabe and Hyde 2006). The
omission of minorities is important, not simply because
they make up a large and growing segment of the
population, but because there is increasing evidence that
dissatisfaction with specific body features varies among
ethnic groups (Frederick et al. 2007b; Jung et al. 2007).
This study was conducted to examine the prevalence of
body and breast dissatisfaction in a sample of African,
Asian, European, and Hispanic American college women
using a series of self-report body image measures.
Sex Roles (2008) 58:449–457
DOI 10.1007/s11199-007-9362-6
For additional papers and information, please contact David Frederick
at enderflies1@aol.com, visit his website at http://dfred.bol.ucla.edu
or contact Gordon B. Forbes at gforbes@millikin.edu.
G. B. Forbes (*)
Department of Psychology, Millikin University,
Decatur, IL, USA
e-mail: gforbes@millikin.edu
D. A. Frederick
Department of Psychology, University of California,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
D. A. Frederick
UCLA Center for Culture, Brain, and Development,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
D. A. Frederick
UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture,
Los Angeles, CA, USA