Jessica Rios(she/her/they/them)

Peers are often the first to recognize distress in their adolescent and young adult friends and encourage seeking professional help. The distressed individual's race/ethnicity may affect the perception of distress. Previous research into the recognition of eating disorders and disordered eating has demonstrated this, with European American conditions being recognized at a much higher rate than either LatinX or African American conditions. The current research sought to expand on previous research by including the addition of an Asian American and a No Race Control condition and having a picture of the character within the vignette. It was hypothesized of the five conditions that disordered eating would most often be recognized in the European American condition, followed by the Asian American condition, the No Race Control, and least often in the LatinX and African American conditions. This study recruited 285 undergraduate students from a large university through Sona, social media, and e-mail to participate in Qualtrics. This survey consisted of the same character vignettes in different race/ethnicity conditions, recognition of disordered eating question, the Eating Disorder Inventory - 3 "Drive for Thinness" subscale, and demographic questions. Statistical testing revealed that the race/ethnicity of the vignette character did influence recognition rates, but not assessment rates. Additional testing revealed that the gender of the participant also influenced recognition and assessment rates, with male participants' recognition and assessment rates lower than those of female participants. Future research should include dimensions of gender and sexuality and additional subscales or the entirety of the EDI-3.