Correlates of Disordered Eating Attitudes Among Male and Female Young Talented Dancers: Findings From the UK Centres for Advanced Training

Abstract

Correlates of disordered eating attitudes were examined with a mixed-sex sample of 347 young talented dancers aged 10-18 years from all UK Centres for Advanced Training. Equal proportions of females (7.3%) and males (7.6%) were symptomatic for disordered eating but correlates differed: for females, self-evaluative perfectionism, waking up > twice/night and hours of non-dance physical activity were predictive while for males, only the combination of self-evaluative and conscientious perfectionism was significant. Differences between menstrual status groups were evident, with young dancers (pre-menarcheal/within first year of menarche) reporting the least disordered eating attitudes and those with dysfunctional menses reporting the most.

Perfectionism and Eating Psychopathology Among Dancers: The Role of High Standards and Self‐criticism

“…The current findings demonstrated that high standards and self-criticism are positively associated with eating restraint, eating concern, weight concern and shape concern, with self-criticism demonstrating relatively stronger associations with the measured aspects of eating psychopathology than did high standards. This closer relationship of eating psychopathology with self-criticism rather than with high standards supports previous research examining perfectionism and eating psychopathology in a heterogeneous sample of dancers (Nordin-Bates et al, 2011).…”

“…The present study investigated the interactive effects of high standards and self-criticism on eating psychopathology among university-aged dancers. The current sample's levels of perfectionism were higher than a previous study of female dancers (Nordin-Bates et al, 2011), which also had a relatively heterogeneous sample of dancers in terms of dance styles and hours of weekly dance activity. Nordin-Bates et al had recruited from a younger sample than the current sample, and it had comprised a relatively committed group of dancers, so it is unclear why their levels of perfectionism were slightly lower than the current sample of university-aged dancers.…”

“…Perfectionism Inventory (Hill et al, 2004) The Perfectionism Inventory (PI) was used to generate the two higher order dimensions of conscientious perfectionism (ConP; high standards) and self-evaluative perfectionism (SeP; self-criticism), which were taken from the key aspects of the original Multidimensional Perfectionism Scales by Frost et al (1990) and by Hewitt and Flett (1991). The PI has been previously used among dancers (Nordin-Bates et al, 2011). The PI comprises 59 items with two composite factors of perfectionism, ConP and SeP. ConP is characterised by high levels of organisation, planfulness, high standards for others and striving for excellence, whereas SeP consists of perceived parental pressure, rumination, need for approval and concern over mistakes.…”

“…One factor that has been implicated in the aetiology and maintenance of the eating disorders, as well as being more prevalent in dancers than in non-dancing controls, is perfectionism (Fairburn, Cooper, & Shafran, 2003;Taranis & Meyer, 2010;Tyrka, Waldron, Graber, & Brooks-Gunn, 2002). Among dancers, perfectionism has been repeatedly associated with greater levels of eating psychopathology (Nordin-Bates, Walker, & Redding, 2011;Penniment & Egan, 2012;Thomas, Keel, & Heatherton, 2005).…”

Eating attitudes, body image and risk for eating disorders in a group of Spanish dancers

“…The existence of specific personality traits along with sociocultural influences may explain, to some extent, the high prevalence of ED among high-risk occupations (9). Some authors have mentioned that perfectionism and low selfesteem, usually found among dancers, might explain why ED appear to be more prevalent among this group of people (9,10). Nevertheless, this statement remains controversial taking into account the disparity of results, probably due to methodological differences among studies (7).…”