Association between Body Shape, Body Mass Index and Eating disorders among athletics' and non athletics' female students

Abstract

Background: Owing to high prevalence and potentially harmful physical and psychosocial consequences, eating disorders are considered as significant harm to adolescents in public health. Many factors increase the risk for developing eating disorders such as social pressure, cultural factors, economic status, and the media programs' focus on weight loss Objectives:The study aimed to detect if there are any differences between athletic female students and non-athletic ones in perceiving body shape, body mass index, and eating disorders. Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study comparing between athletic female students from Faculty of Physical Education for Girls and non-athletic female students from another college using a self-administrated questionnaire consisting of a demographic section, an Arabic version of the Eating Attitude Test 26, the Body Shape Questionnaire, and the Body Figure Rating Scale. Results: 118 female students participated in the current study and completed the questionnaires. Athletic female students got higher scores in the Eating Attitude Test 26, showing moderate to severe body shape dissatisfaction. There was a statistically significant difference (p <0.05) between athletic and non-athletic female students in terms of actual body size and perceived body image. Conclusion: The study results demonstrated that athletic female students were more prone to the risk of eating disorders than non-athletic ones along with dissatisfaction of their body image. It is advised that the athletic departments examine their students for eating disorders with the purpose of early detection. Further studies are needed to assess the relationship between the risk of developing eating disorders and athletic female students to overcome this problem in an early stage.