Effectiveness of the Body Project eating disorder prevention program for different racial and ethnic groups and an evaluation of the potential benefits of ethnic matching.

objectiveProvide an adequately powered tests of whether a group-delivered dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program (Body Project) is similarly effective for different racial and ethnic groups and evaluate whether an improved match between minority participant race/ethnicity and fellow group members is associated with larger effects.

methodStudy 1 examined data from 539 young women from seven high schools and four universities and Study 2 examined data from 1,195 young women and men from 50 universities who completed the Body Project, focusing on pretest-to-posttest reductions in outcomes.

resultsIn Study 1, reductions in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction, dieting, negative affect, and eating disorder symptoms did not significantly differ for White versus Asian, Black, and Native Americans, though we did not have power to contrast racial and ethnic minority groups. In Study 2, only one intervention effect was weaker for a minority group relative to Whites (Black vs. White participants showed smaller reductions in thin-ideal internalization), but there was evidence that intervention effects were significantly larger for Hispanic versus White and Black participants, and to a lesser extent for Hispanic versus Asian and Native Americans; these differences were partially driven by differences in pretest risk across ethnic groups. Ethnic/racial matching was not associated with larger effects.

conclusionsResults suggest that the Body Project produced relatively similar effects for racial/ethnic minority groups relative to White participants, that the effects were sometimes larger for Asian and Hispanic participants, and that recruiting Black participants at higher risk may contribute to larger effects for this racial group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).