Parental Influences on Elite Aesthetic Athletes’ Body Image Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating

Abstract

Although different forms of parental influences on adolescents' body image and eating disturbances have been studied, this relationship is nearly uninvestigated within the population of aesthetic athletes, a risk group for the development of eating disorders. The present study examined the role of specific family variables on the body image dissatisfaction (BID) and disordered eating (DE) of elite aesthetic athletes (n = 85) and controls (n = 142). Adolescents (M = 14.87 years, SD = 2.22) completed measures of direct influences (concern with thinness and weight teasing by parents), perceived quality of relationship with each parent and the overall family environment, BID and DE. Participants' parents (223 mothers and 198 fathers) also completed measures of BID and DE. In general, parents of athletes do not present higher levels of BID or DE than do controls' parents. Interesting differences were found between athletes' and controls' BID and DE predictors. Among athletes, direct parental influences are the only significant predictive family variable, which can reinforce the pressure to be thin found within elite-aesthetic contexts. The study's findings highlight not only the importance of critical parental comments in athletes' expression of BID and DE, but also of maternal modeling among adolescents in the general population. Such parental behavior may be an appropriate target in different prevention efforts.

Comportamentos de risco para os transtornos alimentares em jovens atletas de voleibol: o estilo de liderança do treinador é um fator interveniente?

“…Consequently (block 3), the findings demonstrated an increase in the magnitude of the influence on DEB of volleyball players. This result indicated that body dissatisfaction related to leanness explained 23% of the DEB variance, corroborating other findings [28][29][30] . In this sense, it seems that athletes with high magnitude of body dissatisfaction related to thinness are susceptible to the adoption of DEB in the medium term, corroborating the sociosports model of DEB 12 .…”

“…Considering that the relationship revealed a negative magnitude, it could be assumed that the greater the social support from coach to the athlete, the lower the susceptibility to the adoption of DEB. Francisco, Narciso and Alarcão 30 have pointed out that social support that the coach provides to athletes is essential to minimize the risks for eating disorders, thus explaining the results of the fifth block of the hierarchical regression.…”

Prevalence of Parental Comments on Weight/Shape/Eating amongst Sons and Daughters in an Adolescent Sample

“…Studies on prevalence have a mix of clinical and non-clinical populations [15,[21][22][23]. One study had an athletic population [25] and another military-dependent population [26]. Their diversity is both a strength and a limitation, and a reduced number only included female adolescents [3,27,28].…”

Impact of the Mass Media on Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Psychological Well-Being and Physical Activity. Structural Equation Analysis

“…Specifically, mass media present a positive impression of iconic personalities through publicity, encouraging people to change their lifestyle, such as physical activity motivation or eating habits, thus promoting healthy habits [ 12 , 13 ]. However, not all mass media have a positive effect, as highlighted by Francisco et al [ 14 ] and Stirling et al [ 15 ], as excessive mass media exposure generates dissatisfaction, setting beauty standards and causing society’s demands to fit within established parameters.…”