Sociocultural factors, female students body internalization, food choices and eating patterns - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 495

and experimental investigations (McCabe& Ric-
ciardelli, 2001; Agras, Bryson, Hammer & Krae-
mer, 2007; Rodgers, Paxton & Chabrol, 2009).
The most important factor in the contribution of
disordered eating was also a family and mothers
appeared to be more influential than the fathers in
communication about dieting (Wertheim, 2002).

framework and food context), personal system
(value negotiations, sensory perceptions, quality,
managing relationships, monetary considerations,
convenience, health and nutrition), and strategies.
According to Shepherd (1989), food choice fac-
tors can be classified into three main groups. The
first includes product-related factors, which com-
prise the intrinsic (physical and chemical properties
of foods, sensory aspects, nutritional content, etc.)
and extrinsic properties (packaging, convenience,
price, brand, labels, etc.) of a product. The second
is consumer-related factors which consist of demo-
graphic, psychographic, psychological and physi-
ological factors. The third group is environmental
context which includes economic and social factors.
Eating patterns on the hand can be regarded as
the occasions of eating and the context of eating
occasions (de Castro, 2009). In other word, eat-
ing pattern can be seen as when, how much and
what foods are eaten by certain individuals. It was
discovered that eating patterns could be connected
with energy intake and body weight (Keim, Van
Loan, Horn, Barbieri & Mayclin, 1997).

2.5 Body internalization
In sociology, internalization refers to the process
of acceptance of a set of norms and values estab-
lished by people or groups which are influential
to the individual through the process of socializa-
tion. It involves the integration of attitudes, values,
standards and the opinions of others into one's
own identity or sense of self. Dittmar & Howard
(2004) state that body internalization refers to the
process by which an individual accepts or internal-
izes the image of an ideal body figure captured
from various sources namely socio-cultural fac-
tors and applies it to herself. Body internalization
along with some other factors such awareness of
thin ideal and perceived pressures to be thin are
significantly related to body image dissatisfaction
(Thompson & Stice, 2001).
Body internalization was found strongly related
to body image dissatisfaction. The study found that
when women were made aware of the subtle body
image messages in advertising, they were likely
to be dissatisfied with their bodies (Cusumano &
Thompson, 1997; 2001). A meta-analysis name
three constructs that have been linked to the devel-
opment of body image dissatisfaction: awareness of
the thin ideal, internalization of the thin ideal, and
perceived pressures to achieve this ideal (Thomp-
son & Stice, 2001). Out of these, internalization and
perceived pressure to be thin were found to be the
most strongly related to body image dissatisfaction
and this was true for all ages and cultural groups.
Internalization of the thin beauty ideal also has
been found to be a mediating factor between expo-
sure to media images and the development of body
image dissatisfaction (Stice, Schupak-Neuberg,
Shaw, and Stein, 1994). Comparing of the three
factors, exposure to media, awareness of media and
internalization of media, the later one (internaliza-
tion) was the most closely linked to body image dis-
satisfaction (Cusumano and Thompson, 1997).

3 RELEVANT ISSUES IN MALAYSIA

CONTEXT

Malaysia is still regarded as experiencing nutri-
tional and lifestyle shift, inadvertently unable to
escape from experiencing rapidly increasing rate
of obesity in conjunction with a micro—nutrient
deficit (Ismail, Chee, Nawawi, Yusoff, Lim &
James, 2002; Khor, 2005). Researcher postulated
that these factors in combination with the ubiquity
of Western ideals of attractiveness have resulted
in more negative body image among Malaysian
women (Swami, 2006). This notion has been sup-
ported through studies which have informed the
existence of body dissatisfaction in a huge percent-
age of pre-pubescent girls, adolescents and adults
(Shariff & Yasin, 2005; Leong, Poh & Ng, 2004;
Dev, Permal & Fauzee, 2008 and Fatimah, Idris,
Romzi & Fauziah, 1995).
Besides the aforementioned age categories, Erol,
Toprak, and Yazici (2006) pointed that eating dis-
order behavior is also prevalent among female uni-
versity students compared to adolescent girls. It is
also noticeable that female students carry higher
risk of experiencing high level of depression, anxi-
ety and stress due to biopsychosocial factors such
as social roles and body image concerns (Zaid &
Chan, 2007). Such concern is also proven to influ-
ence adolescents' food choice and eating patterns
(Neumark-Sztainer, Story & Perry, 1999). Although
there are studies on body dissatisfaction conducted
in Malaysia (Shariff & Yasin, 2005; McDowell &
Bond, 2006; Mellor, McCabe, Ricciardelli, Yeow,

2.6 Food choice and eating pattern
Food choice is a complex decision that is affected by
the interaction between food, people, and the envi-
ronment. Furst, Conners, Bisogni, Sobal & Falk
(1996) developed a conceptual model to describe
the food choice process which involved life course,
influences (ideals, personal factors, resources, social