TY - JOUR
T1 - The rise of eating disorders in Japan
T2 - Issues of culture and limitations of the model of "westernization"
AU - Pike, Kathleen M.
AU - Borovoy, Amy
N1 - Funding Information:
Kathleen Pike acknowledges funding from the Fulbright Foundation in partial support of work represented in this article. Amy Borovoy’s research was assisted by a grant from the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, with funds provided by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. Requests for reprints may be directed to Dr. Pike.
PY - 2004/12
Y1 - 2004/12
N2 - As the first non-Western nation in contemporary history to become a major industrialized economic power, Japan is central to the debate on cultural relativism in psychiatric nosologies, and the study of eating disorders in Japan contributes to the complex discussion of the impact of culture and history on the experience, diagnosis and treatment of such disorders (R. Gordon 2001; Palmer 2001). Without question, the rise in eating disorders in Japan correlated with increasing industrialization, urbanization, and the fraying of traditional family forms following World War II. While the case of Japan confirms that the existence of eating disorders appears to be linked with these broader social transformations, it also points to the importance of specific cultural and historical factors in shaping the experience of eating disorders. In this article, we explore two particular dimensions of culture in contemporary Japan: (1) gender development and gender role expectations for females coming of age; and (2) beauty ideals and the role of weight and shape concerns in the etiology of eating disorders. Our analysis of these dimensions of culture, and the data accruing from empirical and qualitative research, reveal limitations to the model of "Westernization" and call for a more culturally sensitive search for meaning in both describing and explaining eating disorders in Japan today.
AB - As the first non-Western nation in contemporary history to become a major industrialized economic power, Japan is central to the debate on cultural relativism in psychiatric nosologies, and the study of eating disorders in Japan contributes to the complex discussion of the impact of culture and history on the experience, diagnosis and treatment of such disorders (R. Gordon 2001; Palmer 2001). Without question, the rise in eating disorders in Japan correlated with increasing industrialization, urbanization, and the fraying of traditional family forms following World War II. While the case of Japan confirms that the existence of eating disorders appears to be linked with these broader social transformations, it also points to the importance of specific cultural and historical factors in shaping the experience of eating disorders. In this article, we explore two particular dimensions of culture in contemporary Japan: (1) gender development and gender role expectations for females coming of age; and (2) beauty ideals and the role of weight and shape concerns in the etiology of eating disorders. Our analysis of these dimensions of culture, and the data accruing from empirical and qualitative research, reveal limitations to the model of "Westernization" and call for a more culturally sensitive search for meaning in both describing and explaining eating disorders in Japan today.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Culture
KW - Gender
KW - Japan
KW - Weight and shape concern
KW - eating disorders
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=17644409387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=17644409387&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11013-004-1066-6
DO - 10.1007/s11013-004-1066-6
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15847052
AN - SCOPUS:17644409387
SN - 0165-005X
VL - 28
SP - 493
EP - 531
JO - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
JF - Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
IS - 4
ER -