Kokila Morgandass

• BSc (Hons) Food & Human Nutrition
• Body image dissatisfaction and eating attitudes among men of various ethnic background living in Singapore.

Men from different races will differ in body shape and this may force to conform to a certain muscular ideal via excessive exercise and/or disordered eating behaviour. The aim of this project was to gather data about eating behaviour and body image satisfaction of men from three main ethnicities in Singapore (Chinese, Malay and Indian) through a survey.

In average and significantly, Indians (n=92) were the heaviest whilst Malays (n=87) the most dissatisfied with weight. Generally, all three ethnicities desired to be more muscular, particularly Chinese (n=84) who reported the highest shape discrepancy. From average results on the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), this sample was at a low-risk of developing eating disorders. However, Indian and Malay scored significantly higher than Chinese on both EAT-26 and subscale Dieting. In this multi-ethnic sample, being heavier or dissatisfied with weight had a higher impact than muscular shape as shown by results on EAT-26.

Funding source: Newcastle University

Supervisor: Dr Lourdes Santos-Merx