A cultural models approach to understanding body fatness perceptions and disordered eating in young South Korean men

Using culture‐based approaches, Monocello et al. revealed that young Korean men generally shared the same perceptions of fatness, including three categories (“too thin,” “balanced,” and “too fat”). The “balanced” category was most consistent with local South Korean culture, and the “too fat” category was associated with higher body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Even though cultural differences in body ideals are an essential factor to consider in the development of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, little research has applied culture‐based approaches to explore body ideals in men, including how these ideals may be related to men's body image or eating behaviors. Thus, Monocello et al.'s work is a timely and vital contribution to the literature. In this commentary, we expand on Monocello et al.'s work by not only illustrating the roles of local cultures but also introducing the potential influences of external cultures via acculturation in shaping body ideals which, in turn, contribute to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in men. We also provide future research directions to call for more culture‐based research to understand body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among men in different cultural contexts.

A Call for More Culture‐Based Research to Understand Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating in Men: Commentary on Monocello et al. (2024)

He,

Barnhart

2024

Exploring the Meaning of Body Image in Culture and Promoting Equitable Research Partnerships

Chua,

Lum,

Teh

et al. 2024

Consistent with past research that appearance plays an important role in gaining social and economic capital in many Asian countries, Monocello et al. report that young urban South Korean men who did not graduate from high‐prestige universities may find the pursuit of attractiveness and the ideal body more important than those who graduated from high‐prestige universities. It is possible that at least for some Asian men, disordered eating behaviors in response to appearance pressures are simply means to an end, and when success in important life domains is achieved, both appearance pressures and disordered eating behaviors may decrease. The growing number of studies from Asia highlight that there is still much to learn about the development and treatment of eating disorders. Even as the field of eating disorders encourages research from under‐represented countries, we must also intentionally develop equitable research partnerships and engage in practices that elevate the voices and perspectives of marginalized scholars.

Culturally Local Perspectives Are Imperative to Scientific Excellence and Health Equity in Eating Disorders Research: Commentary on Monocello et al. (2024)

Lheem,

Becker

2024

This commentary discusses a principal contribution of Monocello et al.'s paper presenting a cultural models approach to body fatness perceptions, which provides a rigorous and systematic means of identifying analytic categories that are locally meaningful, in contrast to categories derived from a solely universalizing perspective. In situating their work within an underrepresented population in eating disorders research—young men in South Korea—the authors step beyond the constraints of a universalizing, or etic, framework for probing how body dissatisfaction relates to eating disorder risk. The value of an alternative analytic framework, based on a culturally local, or emic, perspective on how bodies are perceived is demonstrated through the use of a cultural models approach exploring the relationship between culturally defined conceptualizations of body image and eating disorder risk. Understanding such relationships and the meanings attributed to the myriad aspects of body image through locally grounded frameworks provides an essential tool for investigators and clinicians to better understand the lived experience of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, and also to inform more culturally salient approaches to diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. An emic approach that centers local perspectives and priorities also facilitates participation of communities underrepresented in research in knowledge production.