WEDNESDAY, Dec. 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The holidays are here and many Hispanic women can expect to deal with a host of mixed messages when they pass by a table full of festive foods, a new study says.

At social gatherings, Hispanic women might be encouraged to eat more on the one hand, while also being cautioned not to overeat on the other, researchers report in a study published in the December issue of the journal Body Image.

"You'll go see your grandma and your grandma is telling you to eat more, eat more, you're so skinny,” one participant in the study told researchers. “But then when you're not being prompted by somebody else to eat a lot and you go get a second plate or get a second bowl of something, and they're [saying], 'Oh wow, you're eating a lot.’”

For the study, researchers interviewed 19 Hispanic women about their positive and negative body image experiences.

The open nature of the research allowed for detailed description of the mixed messages Hispanic women face related to their body image, researchers said.

Hispanic women tend to have high rates of body dissatisfaction, which increases their risk of eating disorders, said lead researcher Sarah Johnson-Munguia, a University of Kansas graduate student with the Center for the Advancement of Research on Eating Behaviors Lab.

"There's a lot of stereotypes in the eating disorder world around who has eating disorders and what they look like,” Johnson-Munguia said in a university news release. "It’s a population that's been historically underrepresented in the field, and because of that, understudied.”

“This was a first step in understanding a little bit more about how Hispanic women relate to their body image and what kind of culture adaptations might need to be made for this population,” Johnson-Munguia added.

The study also looked at positive impacts on body image, and found that it’s important to focus on how a woman’s body functions rather than how it looks.

“I’m super proud of my heritage and coming from Nicaragua. Like I feel that I’m super connected to my culture … I love to dance, and I feel like dancing and the music is just part of me and I love it,” another participant in the study said. “And I think that to dance with the slow, with passion, you need to be comfortable with yourself, and I feel like that really connects me to my culture.”

Johnson-Munguia said she was surprised by how frequently that occurred -- that a woman’s identity as Hispanic connected back to positive body image.

"It connected frequently in some way to their cultural context. I think that was something that I found interesting and important,” Johnson-Munguia said.

What's more, programs that focus on body functionality -- what a body can do rather than what it looks like -- have been effective at improving body image, the release said.

“The example I always love is, instead of thinking about how your arms are fat, thinking about how your arms allow you to hug like the people around you that you love,” Johnson-Munguia added.

These results show that body functionality programs should be adapted to help Hispanic women handle body image issues, researchers said.

“If someone doesn't see themselves represented in the program, they're not going to want to do it or get as much out of it,” Johnson-Munguia concluded. "There's also some research to suggest that culturally adapted programs can sometimes be more effective for the populations they're serving.”

More information

Expand Your Horizon has more on body image based on functionality, not appearance.

SOURCE: University of Kansas, news release, Dec. 16, 2024