The 3E Study: Economic and Educational Contributions to Emerging Adult Cardiometabolic Health

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Despite being one of the fastest growing sectors of the US and having greater risk of developing eating pathology and more weight-related distress, Latina women are understudied, underrepresented, and underreported in the eating disorder (ED) field and factors affecting their disproportionate risk are largely unknown. Emerging adulthood and college are key transitional times linked to the development of EDs, and Latina emerging adult college students are particularly vulnerable. Intersectionality posits that individuals’ various identities interact with systemic factors (e.g., socioeconomic position with racialized and gendered identities), resulting in compounding discriminatory experiences that negatively impact health. Latina women have 42% greater risk of eating pathology than expected when the intersection of their ethnicity and gender are accounted for. Hypothesis-driven, longitudinal research focused on reducing eating pathology inequities for Latina women is lacking. Further, protective factors for eating pathology remain understudied in the ED field, particularly for multiply marginalized women whose experiences have historically been understudied, underrepresented, and underreported, and warrant further investigation. The overall objective of this administrative supplemental application is to examine economic risk factors and educational protective factors, as they intersect with aspects of identity, that are associated with risk of eating pathology in Latina emerging adults. We propose building on the parent grant R01HL160703-01A1 (“The 3E study: Economic and educational contributions to emerging adult cardiometabolic health”), which is creating a longitudinal cohort of 4,000 emerging adults at public Hispanic-Serving Institutions in California, by adding a set of supplemental aims (and new measures) that capture a wider breadth of eating pathology and exploring key identity-based moderators relevant for Latina emerging adults (e.g., generational status), who are understudied, underrepresented, and underreported in the ED literature. Using survey and daily diary data, our specific aims are to: 1) determine the contribution of Latina emerging adults’ economic stressors to eating pathology over time and 2) determine the contribution of educational protective factors to eating pathology over time. This research will increase understanding of factors that contribute to higher risk for eating pathology in Latina emerging adults, which will also enhance our knowledge of primary prevention targets for negative cardiometabolic health outcomes in this historically understudied, underrepresented, and underreported population.