(PS7-43) Exploring Eating Disorder Risk Among Documented and Undocumented Hispanic College Students in the United States

Despite growing research on eating disorders (EDs) among Hispanic populations, there remains a critical gap in understanding the prevalence of EDs among undocumented Hispanic people in the United States. Past studies have investigated themes that may contribute to the mental health of this population that include difficulty in succeeding in the country of origin, dangerous border crossings, limited resources, stress, depression, and other health implications. This study aims to address this gap by investigating ED risk in a sample of Hispanic undocumented undergraduate students. Hispanic undergraduate students (n = 13,463 documented, n = 240 undocumented) from the 2021-2022 Healthy Minds Study completed the SCOFF questionnaire to screen for ED pathology. Legal status was reported, and the association between legal status and ED pathology was evaluated after adjusting for financial stress and gender. Binary logistic regression model was used to test if legal status predicted the odds of an ED, adjusting for financial stress and gender.  The overall model was found to be statistically significant (X² (1) = 29.60, p = < .001), with Nagelkerke R-squared value of .05; however legal status was not a significant predictor of ED status after accounting for financial stress and gender (𝛽 = -.07, p = .96). The findings suggest that legal status alone may not be a significant factor in predicting ED risk among undocumented Hispanic populations. However, concerns arise regarding the suitability of the SCOFF measure for this population, given it was developed in the UK and has not been validated in U.S.-based Hispanic samples. Furthermore, there are questions about potential inadequacy of standard ED criteria for understanding EDs among Hispanics (e.g., Perez & Worren, 2012), particularly those less acculturated due to cultural and linguistic barriers. Limitations include the use of a broad screening measure of EDs, which precluded understanding associations between specific ED behaviors and legal status. Future research should seek to replicate this relationship by using a culturally sensitive measure to better understand ED prevalence and risk factors among documented and undocumented Hispanic students.