2006/07/01 by Shelly Grabe, Janet Shibley Hyde · 5 citations
Psychology · Health Professions · #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies #Obesity and Health Practices
paper · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.4.622
openalex publication_date 2006/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/21
The prevailing view in popular culture and the psychological literature is that White women have greater body dissatisfaction than women of color. In this meta-analysis, 6 main effect sizes were obtained for differences among Asian American, Black, Hispanic, and White women with a sample of 98 studies, yielding 222 effect sizes. The average d for the White-Black comparison was 0.29, indicating that White women are more dissatisfied, but the difference is small. All other comparisons were smaller, and many were close to zero. The findings directly challenge the belief that there are large differences in dissatisfaction between White and all non-White women and suggest that body dissatisfaction may not be the golden girl problem promoted in the literature. Implications for theory and treatment are discussed.