Developmental Area Brown Bag - Intersectional Identities: Disordered Eating Resilience in Black Adolescents

Abstract: Disordered eating is a pervasive problem for adolescents in the United States, but the rates vary greatly between different gender and racial/ethnic groups. However, simply looking at group differences is problematic in that occludes the mechanism that lead into these differences. The study presented looks at how gender, racial, and pubertal identity might intersect to help explain the disordered eating resilience of Black adolescents despite the theoretical risk associated with earlier pubertal development.

Bio: Janelle Davis is third year PhD candidate in Developmental Psychology, working with Rona Carter and Monique Ward. She received her B.A. from Kalamazoo College, where she helped the Southwest Michigan Eating Disorders Association (SMEDA) design and implement a group parent training program to educate caregivers and give them tools on how to promote recovery for their children and adolescents dealing with disordered eating. Her recent work explores how identities salient in adolescence may function together to promote risk or resilience in terms of disordered eating behaviors. Specifically she is interested in the intersection of pubertal identity, gender identity, and racial identity.