Body Image, Assimilation, and Weight of Immigrant Adolescents in the United States: A Person-Centered Analysis

Adolescence is a critical developmental period as youth explore their body image and work to establish an identity. The stress of identity and body image development can be exacerbated by acculturative stress faced by immigrant adolescents. Using a person-centered analysis, we investigated immigrant adolescents’ (n = 57) profiles based on assimilation to the United States (US), weight, and body image dissatisfaction. Analyses included an exploratory two-step clustering technique using maximum likelihood estimation procedures to assign class membership. Follow-up analyses then examined latent class membership by adolescent age, gender, culture of origin, and immigration generation. Results indicated several meaningful latent groups of adolescents based on their BID, acculturation, and BMI. These profiles included one in which adolescents who were underweight and more assimilated to US culture also reported more satisfaction with their body image. A second profile emerged of adolescents who were normal weight or overweight and less assimilated, who also reported higher levels of body image dissatisfaction, with a desire to be thinner. The third cluster profile included adolescents who were of normal weight, but were higher on assimilation and were among the most dissatisfied with their body image. Our findings suggest that immigrant adolescents at all levels of acculturation are internalizing the thin body ideal prominent in the US, with a variety of implications for their sense of body image and BMI. Implications for mental and physical health care for immigrant adolescents are discussed.