Attitudes toward help-seeking in Latina and white college women with disordered eating

Past research suggests that although there is a similar prevalence of disordered eating among women of different ethnicities, there may be differences in their willingness to seek professional help. The present study examined the relationship between disordered eating and help-seeking in Latina/Hispanic (n = 63) and White (n = 34) women. Past studies found that Latina/Hispanic women were less likely to seek out help than White women. The results of this study yielded no significant difference in help-seeking attitudes across Latina/Hispanic and White women, t(95) = -1.00, p = .32, two-tailed. Consistent with recent studies, there was also no significant difference in disordered eating tendencies across Latina/Hispanic and White women, t(95) = -1.32, p=.19, two-tailed. The current study sought to assess the correlation between help-seeking and disordered eating. There was no significant correlation between help-seeking and disordered eating in either of the two groups. The Pearson Coefficient Correlation was r(63) = .02, p = .86, two-tailed, for the Latina group and r(34) = .23, p = .20, two-tailed, for the White group. These outcomes are encouraging, but due to the small sample size (N = 97) further research is needed.