Embodiment in Indigenous & White Post-Secondary Students

Why are we doing this research?

Research regarding the psychosocial well-being of Indigenous post-secondary education students and their related experiences that impact completion of post-secondary education is limited. 

What did this research project examine?

This study investigated the experience of embodiment, an aspect of well-being encompassing the relationship between oneself, one’s body, and society, in Atlantic Canadian post-secondary education students and associations between embodiment, culture, weight and ethnic-racial discrimination to identify protective and risk factors that may impact completion of education.

What did we find?

Results for this first phase of data collection include the following: 

· Indigenous student EES scores were not significantly different than white student scores. 

· Indigenous student EES scores were positively correlated with cultural socialization, whereas this relationship was not present for the white group. 

· EES scores were negatively correlated with weight discrimination scores for both groups. 

· EES scores were not associated with ethnic-racial discrimination scores for either group.

Two protective factors for Indigenous students emerged: 

· Engagement in Indigenous cultural experiences.

· Completing post-secondary education from one’s home community. 

Risk factors identified for all students included:

· Engagement in Western sociocultural attractiveness ideals.

· The experience of weight discrimination.