ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ACCULTURATION and INTUITIVE EATING Among LATINA WOMEN

Includes bibliographical references (pages 27-33).Acculturation processes involve adaptation from the culture of origin to the host\ud culture. As a result, foreign born Latinos experience a shift in norms, values, behaviors, and attitudes towards non-Latino (Western) culture when relocating to the United States.\ud Acculturation among Latina women has been associated with behaviors contributing to\ud obesity and may affect dieting behaviors. Behavior change interventions targeting weight\ud loss through diet achieve moderate short term weight loss. Changes, however, are not\ud sustained and disrupt homeostasis. In contrast, intuitive eating offers a non-dieting approach to weight management teaching participants to eat according to physiological hunger and satiety cues. Intuitive eating has been associated with improved physiological and mental health outcomes. A convenience sample of 54 Latina women completed surveys and anthropometric measurements at baseline as part of Valorando Nuestros Cuerpos (Valuing Our Bodies) pilot study.\ud This aim of this study was to assess the relationship between acculturation and\ud intuitive eating among Latina women residing near the United States-Mexico border using a cross-sectional survey. This study examined the relationship between acculturation and intuitive eating using multiple measures of acculturation including Marin's Bi-dimensional Acculturation Scale (BAS), country of birth, years of residence and age at arrival among foreign born, and the Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2). Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients and a multiple linear regression were run to assess the significance of the variables representing acculturation and intuitive eating (IE).\ud Results indicated the majority of the sample was foreign born, overweight or obese,\ud dominant in Latino culture according to the BAS, and relatively high intuitive eating scores. Contrary to the hypothesis, analyses found no significant relationship between acculturation and intuitive eating. However, the relationship between BMI and intuitive eating approached significance. Possible reasons for lack of significance include volunteer bias from convenience sampling, frequent border crossing, and low levels of acculturation. Further research is needed to validate the translation of the complete IES-2 scale into Spanish and to include a group of Latina women with more variance in generations and ethnic groups. Despite a lack of statistical significance, intuitive eating remains a promising approach to weight maintenance for Latina women