Female athletes often experience sport-environment pressures about weight, eating, and body composition from within the sport environment. One pressure that may be particularly debilitating is being weighed as a requirement of sport participation. Using 414 female collegiate athletes from weight-sensitive sports, we examined the frequency of weigh-ins, weight intentionality, weight-management practices, and eating and nutritional behaviors. Of the 41% of athletes who were weighed, most were done by athletic trainers in private (82%) and prepared by using at least one weight management strategy (75%). In the entire sample, 22.8% ate <1500cal per day and 55% wanted to lose weight (approximately 5lb). The majority (78%) received their nutritional advice from qualified sources (e.g., dietitian). Although being weighed was not required for the majority of the athletes, and when mandated was done in a relatively healthy manner, sizable numbers of the athletes wanted to lose weight, ate less than needed for their sport, and received guidance on how to eat healthfully from unqualified sources. Additional research is needed with other sports to establish baseline data for these behaviors.
Objective
Due to high prevalence, female athletes are considered a high‐risk group for eating disorders (i.e., clinical ED = 2.0% to 19.9%; subclinical ED = 7.1% to 49.2%). Cross‐sectional and longitudinal research have identified psychosocial factors that influence current and future disordered eating (e.g., appearance pressures, body satisfaction), but are limited in design (e.g., timeframe, active competitors). Quantitative evaluations of psychosocial predictors of female athletes' disordered eating in retirement are lacking.
Method
The current study investigated the predictive ability of psychosocial risk factors (e.g., body dissatisfaction, negative affect) from Time1, when collegiate female athletes were actively competing, to Time2, 6 years later when the women were retired (N = 194; Mage = 25.75 years [SD = 1.19]).
Results
From Time1 to Time2, 23.5% of the women who were Healthy moved to the Disordered classification; 51% remained in Disordered. The full model for athletes who maintained their Disordered status correctly classified 76% of the athletes. Dietary intent, pressure to exercise and change appearance, body satisfaction, and internalization significantly predicted athletes' maintenance as Disordered.
Discussion
Early intervention efforts that address appearance pressures, body image, and healthful eating when athletes are actively competing are vital to help alleviate future distress, particularly in retirement.
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