Risk for eating disorders and body composition among adolescent female and male athletes and non-athlete controls

Abstract

Purpose The objective of this research was to investigate the risk for eating disorders (EDs) and compare body composition in participants with and without risk in adolescent Slovenian athletes and aged matched controls. Methods A total of 583 randomly selected adolescents, aged from 15 to 17 years, completed a sick, control, one stone, fat, food (SCOFF) questionnaire for detecting risk for EDs. Weight and body composition were measured using a bioelectrical impedance machine. Based on the data body mass index (BMI), percentiles were calculated. Results Overall, 37.7% of athletes and 39.8% of controls were classified as at risk for EDs. Girls showed a significantly higher frequency of risk than boys, 1:3.5. A higher percentage of underweight boys was found in control group compared to the athletes, but the difference was not significant in the subsample of girls. Differences in body composition show that the at-risk group had significantly higher values in BMI percentiles (p < 0.001) and percentages of fat mass (p < 0.001) and lower values in percentage of muscle mass (p < 0.01) and fat-free mass. Conclusions These finding demonstrate that the gap in risk for EDs between males and females is becoming smaller and stresses to consider specific parameters of body composition as being important when identifying at-risk groups for EDs.

Body Image and Disturbed Eating Attitudes and Behaviors in Sport-Involved Adolescents: The Role of Gender and Sport Characteristics

“…Further, we found no significant difference in DEABs in the groups of sport-involved adolescents and controls. Our results also coincide with those of other studies that demonstrated no differences in DEABs in sport-involved adolescents and controls [8,24,48,49]. However, our findings oppose the studies which concluded that the prevalence of eating disorders is higher in athletes compared to non-athletes [31,36].…”

Likelihood of suffering from an eating disorder in a sample of Spanish cyclists and triathletes

“…Pustivšek, Hadžić, Dervišević & Carruthers (2019) [35] also observed that female cyclists and triathletes were significantly more likely than males to have a high ED prevalence. Similar results have been found in a sample of adolescent female and male athletes.…”

“…These results are interesting as we hypothesized that respondents who were underweight or overweight would both be more susceptible to ED but, in this case, only high BMI was significant. A recent study [35] with adolescent Slovenian athletes showed that ED at-risk groups had significantly higher BMI percentiles and fat mass percentages, and lower muscle mass and fat-free mass percentages. Another study involving Spanish adolescents found that overweight adolescents had a higher risk of developing ED than non-overweight adolescents.…”

Eating Disorders in Top Elite Beach Handball Players: Cross Sectional Study

“…However, in absolute values, there is a higher percentage in favor of elite female players. Studies have shown that females have more ED behaviors than males [ 43 , 44 , 45 ], often due to socio-cultural impositions and aesthetic patterns, making them a high risk group for the distortion of body self-image and ED [ 46 ]. This trend seems to be repeated in athletes [ 34 ]; furthermore, the results coincide with those of Fortes et al [ 35 ], finding no differences in the EAT-26 between men and women indoor handball players [ 35 ].…”

“…In females, as can be seen in the correlations, there was a positive association between EAT-26 total score and BMI, in addition to the one between subscale dieting and BMI. Moreover, some studies found that overweight girls are more likely to present restrictive eating behaviors, worry about their weight and be less satisfied with their appearance [ 44 , 45 ]. On the other hand, in males, the correlations between BMI and total EAT-26 score and BMI and oral control subscale were negative.…”