Examining Body Appreciation and Disordered Eating In Adolescents of Different Sports Practice: Cross-Sectional Study

Jankauskienė, Rasa; Bacevičienė, Miglė; Trinkūnienė, Laima

doi:10.3390/ijerph17114044

Cited by 18 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 71 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The finding that female exercise science students reported a stronger body appreciation compared to reference students, supports similar differences found between adolescent students participating in leisure and competitive sports compared to non-participants [28]. Our results indicate that even though female exercise science students are exposed to a highly body-oriented environment and bodily capital, and report high levels of BAP, they also report characteristics that might protect their body image.…”

Section: Body Appreciationsupporting

confidence: 84%

Body appreciation and body appearance pressure in Norwegian university students comparing exercise science students and other students

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Body image is considered a core issue for public health and associates with university students’ overall health. Due to positive associations between exercise and body image, it has been suggested that students within an exercise science program might be more body appreciative compared to other students. On the other hand, the strong societal idealization of the athletic body may expose them to a pressure of having a specific body appearance, which may result in unfavorable health consequences. Nevertheless, studies investigating these hypotheses are lacking. We therefore aimed to explore the level and associations of body appreciation, body appearance pressure, body image related mental health constructs, physical activity, and exercise, in Norwegian university exercise science and non-health reference students. Method Male and female exercise science students (n = 517) and reference students (n = 476), from nine large universities in Norway took part in this cross-sectional study. Participants responded to the Body appreciation scale-2, a self-developed questionnaire on body appearance pressure, Physical Appearance Comparison Scale-Revised, Sociocultural attitudes towards appearance questionnaire-4R, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and questions about physical activity and exercise. Between group differences were analyzed using student independent t-test and ANCOVA for parametric data and Chi-square test for categorical data, and associations were evaluated by Person’s correlation. P-values ≤0.05 were defined as significant. Results Female exercise science students had higher scores on body appreciation compared to reference students. No group difference was found in males. A high percentage of students reported experiencing body appearance pressure, with 69 and 85% among male and female exercise science students, and 57 and 83% among male and female reference students. Fitness centers were the settings where most respondents experienced body appearance pressure. Body appreciation was strongly associated with favorable scores on body image related mental health constructs, while personally experienced body appearance pressure associated with destructive scores on the same constructs. Conclusion Body appearance pressure is an issue among university students regardless of study program. Actions to promote body appreciation and prevent body appearance pressure may include an implementation of media literacy, body functionality, and exercise as topics within the education program to safeguard students’ health and well-being. Clinical trial registry No. NCT04256967.

show abstract

Section: Body Appreciationsupporting

confidence: 84%

Body appreciation and body appearance pressure in Norwegian university students comparing exercise science students and other students

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This pilot study adds to the knowledge that it is important to test various fitness activities and sports with specially trained fitness instructors or coaches to understand the impact of a wide variety of sports and physical activities on the development of positive body image in women. Studies in belly dancers, athletes and various sports involving adolescents showed the greater positive body image compared physical activity not involved students [54][55][56]. However, the present experimental study adds to the collected knowledge to understand the direction of these associations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 68%

Effect of an education and mindfulness-based physical activity intervention for the promotion of positive body image in Lithuanian female students

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of an 8-week classroom education and mindfulness-based physical activity intervention for the promotion of positive body image in female students. Methods A quasi-experimental study was carried out with 110 Lithuanian female students (mean age 21.5 ± 3.5, range 19–35 years). Thirty students voluntarily participated in the intervention programme and 80 students volunteered in the assessment-only control group. The intervention comprised five cognitive behavioural therapy classroom education sessions and mindfulness-based exercise (one exercise workout per week). The intervention group was evaluated with a pre-test and post-test and the control group completed measures at parallel times. Results Compared with the control group participants, the intervention group participants reported greater improvements in positive body image and a reduction in body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness and internalisation of stereotyped beauty ideals, with medium to large effects. There were significant time × group interactions for pre-test to post-test changes in internalisation of beauty ideals, body area satisfaction, body dissatisfaction and body appreciation. In all cases, the interaction reflected greater pre-test to post-test changes in the intervention group compared with the control group, whose scores remained stable. A decrease in appearance orientation, overweight preoccupation, disordered eating and physical activity was observed in the control group, but the effect sizes were low. Conclusion The preliminary findings of this study support the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy methods and mindfulness-based exercise intervention aimed to promote positive body image in student-aged women. Future studies should test the efficacy of the introduced programme in larger randomised samples of young women. Level IV Evidence obtained from multiple time series with or without an intervention.

show abstract

“…No protective effect of greater satisfaction with body areas was observed in interactions between men's sports participation, BICs, and DE, suggesting that it is important to implement general strategies to decrease BIC's in sport participating men preventing DE in sport. However, in the present study, we did not assess positive body image, i.e., body appreciation that might be a stronger mediator between BICs and DE in exercising men (Jankauskiene, Baceviciene, & Trinkuniene, 2020;Tylka & Wood-Barcalow, 2015). Future studies should test this issue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

The role of sports participation in the association between students’ body image concerns and disordered eating

Balčiūnienė

Jankauskienė

Bacevičienė

2021

BJSHS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background. Body image concerns (BICs) negatively influence young people’s health as they mutilate psychosocial functioning and lifestyle. The present study aimed to compare BICs, socio-cultural attitudes towards appearance, and disordered eating (DE) in a large sample of student women and men of different body mass (BMI) and physical activity and to evaluate the mediating role of sports participation in the association between BICs and DE. Methods. A total sample of 1850 students (1087 or 58.8% were women, average age 21.6 ± 5.0 years) participated in the study and completed a questionnaire measuring BICs, internalization of the socio-cultural appearance ideals, drive for muscularity, DE, physical activity (PA), and BMI. Two hundred eighty-two men and two hundred eighty-eight women reported leisure-time participation in sports. Two-way ANOVA was conducted to test gender, BMI group, and sports participation effects on study variables. Moderated leisure-time exercise at a sports club effects were tested in the association between body image concerns (BICs) and disordered eating behaviours (DE). Results. Overweight/obese students reported greater BICs, internalization of the stereotyped appearance ideals, and DE compared to students of normal body weight. Participants of sports clubs demonstrated higher appearance evaluation and body areas satisfaction; however, they reported higher overweight preoccupation, internalization of socio-cultural ideals, drive for muscularity (men), and DE. A higher level of BMI, BICs, internalization of socio-cultural body ideals, and drive for muscularity (in men) were associated with greater DE in students. Participation in sports was not a significant moderator between BICs and DE. A significant interaction effect between BMI and exercising at a sports club was observed in women. Conditional effects demonstrated that female students with higher BMI and exercising at a sports club were at higher risk of DE (β = .18, p < .001) than women non-exercising at a sports club (β = .13, p < .001). Conclusions. Overweight students of both genders reported greater BICs and DE. Sports-involved students (men and women) demonstrated more favourable body appearance evaluation. However, sports participants of both genders demonstrated greater BICs and DE compared to non-exercisers. Sports participation had no significant mediating power on the associations between BICs and DE; however, women with higher BMI and participating in leisure-time sports faced a greater risk for DE than women with higher BMI but not participating in sports. The promotion of a positive body image was important to students, especially female students with higher BMI and participating in leisure sports. Keywords: body image concerns, disordered eating, physical activity, sport clubs, emerging adults.

show abstract

Examining Body Appreciation and Disordered Eating In Adolescents of Different Sports Practice: Cross-Sectional Study

Cited by 18 publications

References 71 publications

Body appreciation and body appearance pressure in Norwegian university students comparing exercise science students and other students

Body appreciation and body appearance pressure in Norwegian university students comparing exercise science students and other students

Effect of an education and mindfulness-based physical activity intervention for the promotion of positive body image in Lithuanian female students

The role of sports participation in the association between students’ body image concerns and disordered eating

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About