Ethnic Minority Status and Body Image Dissatisfaction: A Scoping Review of the Child and Adolescent Literature

To systematically summarize the literature examining ethnic minority status and body image dissatisfaction (BID) among children and adolescents living in Canada and the United States. Literature was identified by entering search terms into six electronic databases and through an electronic hand search of key research journals. Eligible sources were those published between 1946 and November 2012, conducted within Canada or the United States, included ethnic minority children or adolescents (<19 years), and measured BID through self-report. Synthesis of the sources followed the principles of thematic and content analysis (Vaismoradi et al. in Nurs Health Sci 15:398–405, 2013). A total of 33 sources were included in our scoping synthesis; spanning from 1991 to 2011. No results emerged from Canada. Evidence from the United States is equivocal. The literature is plagued by inconsistent nomenclature and inadequate attention to issues of measurement, sex and gender. A more robust evidence-base requires advanced methods to examine the intersection of ethnicity, sex and gender on BID among children and adolescents.