Asian students in the anglosphere – unravelling the unique familial pressures contributing to eating pathology: a systematic review

Abstract

Plain English summary Family influences are known to contribute to disturbances in eating behaviours in white people and people of colour, despite cultural differences in family pressures. The Anglosphere, which describes a group of English-speaking countries with shared political and cultural heritage, has seen an increase in student-aged Asians who are vulnerable to the simultaneous pressures of Asian and Anglosphere cultures. Given this demographic is a historically underdiagnosed and undertreated group for eating disorders, this necessitates an examination of the family pressures that contribute to eating disorders which has been relatively understudied thus far. This systematic review found that cultural conflict with parents, overprotective maternal behaviours and achievement-oriented family backgrounds are consistently related to eating disturbances in Asian students in the Anglosphere. These findings also suggest that assimilation into Anglosphere culture plays a significant role in the perception of Asian family influences, and its contribution to eating pathology in this demographic. Asians in secondary and tertiary institutions internalise individual-oriented Anglosphere values through exposure to peers and media, which may conflict with community and family-oriented values of their Asian households. Continued investigation into influential factors may help inform development of culturally-sensitive guidelines for diagnosing and assessing Asian patients for eating disorders.

Keywords

• Eating disorder
• Disordered eating
• Asian
• Student
• Familial
• Anglosphere