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Abstract
European colonization of the Western Hemisphere has led to the decline of the traditional Native American culture, deterioration of their values, and the concomitant loss of personal identity. The effect of these actions is explained by anomie, which proposes that through both acculturation and lost social cohesion an individual develops deviant behavior, compounding psychopathology. Pressures to acculturate and assume the "Melting Pot" mentality led to the decline of the traditional Native culture, loss of a spiritual basis, and increased negative sociocultural factors.
While most research has examined the alcohol addiction among Native American people, little has focused on collateral addictive diseases, specifically, eating disorders, present in those of various ethnocultural populations. It was hypothesized that with diminished traditional beliefs and practices and the forced exposure to a diametric dominant society there would be an increase in the incidence of eating disorders.
The writer administered three standardized instruments measuring the variables of eating disorders (Structured Interview for Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa-Psychopathology (SAIB-PATH), acculturation (Berry's Acculturation Scale), spirituality (Mysticism Scale, Form D), and a demographic questionnaire) to 203 Native American women ranging in age from 17 to 74 years, who reside in Central California.
The design utilized both t tests and ANOVAs. The results demonstrate a weight problem and eating-disorder symptomatology evidenced by subjects who possessed a mean weight of 184 lbs, in addition to elevated scores on each of three measured SAIB-PATH subscales. A majority of the hypotheses were not substantiated. Thus, there were limited correlations found between the following variables: a subject's level of acculturation (traditional, marginal, or acculturated) and spirituality (low or high) among subjects who likewise exhibited eating-disordered behavior. The results demonstrated the following relationships: First, Central California Native American women who were more mystical had a higher incidence of body-image and slimness-ideal disturbance (p $<$.001). The second relationship found suggested that when a Native American possessed a low rate of marginalism (p $<$.05), she manifested a higher incidence of bulimia than did her counterparts in other acculturation groups. The reciprocal was also true--highly marginalized women were less likely to manifest bulimic symptomatology.
