The purpose of this study was to determine what coaches of female athletes know about the female athlete triad. The sample involved 472 NCAA Division I coaches of female athletes. The variables studied were coaches' knowledge and confidence about the triad and coaches' characteristics (coach's gender, age, type of coach, degree held, years of experience in coaching females, continuing education participation specific to the triad and/or triad components, and sport coached). Coaches' knowledge of the female athlete triad is higher for coaches who have received triad education. No differences regarding knowledge of the female athlete triad were found by gender, degree, experience in coaching female athletes, or coach type. Higher knowledge was found in sports emphasizing low body weight compared to sports that do not emphasize weight. The article discusses the results' implications and the need for future interventions in this population.

The purpose of this study was to design and to test the validity and reliability of an instrument to evaluate coaches' knowledge about the female athlete triad syndrome and their confidence in this knowledge. The instrument collects information regarding: knowledge of the syndrome, components, prevention and intervention; confidence of the coaches in their answers; and coach's characteristics (gender, degree held, years of experience in coaching females, continuing education participation specific to the syndrome and its components, and sport coached). The process of designing the questionnaire and testing the validity and reliability of it was done in four phases: a) design and development of the instrument, b) content validity, c) instrument reliability, and d) concurrent validity. The results show that the instrument is suitable for measuring coaches' female athlete triad knowledge. The instrument can contribute to assessing the coaches' knowledge level in relation to this topic.

The differences in how the media treat information about women and men provoke a deficit in the information that girls and female adolescents receive about sports. The purpose of this study was to determine the difference in sports coverage in relation to gender in online newspapers in two western countries, Spain and the United States. All articles (N = 1,977) with athletic content from the online newspapers usatoday.com and elmundo.es were analyzed during 2-week spans in October 2003 and February 2004. The variables registered were gender, placement of article in the newspaper, number of words per article, and photographs. Results show that women’s sport received less coverage than men’s sport in total number of articles as well as in front-page stories, article length, and number of photographs. Additionally, there were 15 articles about men only for every 1 article about women only in the two newspapers.

No abstract