Visiting Instructor of Psychology Maria Kalantzis recently published an article entitled "Disordered eating and emotional eating in Arab, middle eastern, and north African American women" in the journal Eating Behaviors.
The present mixed-methods study addresses the underrepresentation of Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African (A-MENA) American women in eating disorder literature. 244 A-MENA adult women reported descriptive information on their eating disorder symptoms, as well as provided qualitative feedback on what items they would add, change and remove given their A-MENA American identity. In terms of disordered eating (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire; EDE-Q), findings highlight potential sociocultural factors, including bicultural identity and familial pressures/comments regarding appearance. Additionally, themes regarding emotional eating (Emotional Eating Scale Revised-EES-R) suggest the importance of incorporating emotions such as shame and identity-related stress. Overall, the study provides valuable prevalence data and suggests avenues for future research on widely used measures of eating pathology and appearance attitudes specific to A-MENA American women. Kalantzis acknowledges Associate Professor of Psychology Ayşe Ikizler, who has been an inspiration for her to pursue this work.
Additionally, Kalantzis was recently selected as one of 100 women (out of 827 nominees) to receive a $25,000 P.E.O. Scholar Award for AY2024-2025. The monies will help fund her dissertation entitled "Eating Disorders in Arab/MENA American Women: An Exploration in Mechanisms and a Cultural Adaptation of a Cognitive Dissonance Eating Disorder Prevention Program." The research is being conducted at Bowling Green State University under the direction of Associate Professor Abby Braden.
