Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes

Female collegiate athletes have been established as a high-risk group for the development of eating disorders due to the high prevalence rates of clinical and subclinical eating disorders, which have ranged from 1.9% to 16.6% and 4.0% to 26.1%, respectively. Collegiate athletes appear to meet criter...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thompson, Alexandra J.
Other Authors: Watkins, C. Edward, Jr.
Format: Others
Language:English
Published: University of North Texas 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822790/
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spelling ndltd-unt.edu-info-ark-67531-metadc8227902017-05-26T05:37:27Z Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes Thompson, Alexandra J. Eating disorders weight control weight satisfaction disordered eating female collegiate athletes Women college athletes -- Health and hygiene. Eating disorders in women. Weight loss. Female collegiate athletes have been established as a high-risk group for the development of eating disorders due to the high prevalence rates of clinical and subclinical eating disorders, which have ranged from 1.9% to 16.6% and 4.0% to 26.1%, respectively. Collegiate athletes appear to meet criteria for ED-NOS more often than anorexia or bulimia nervosa, and frequently engage in pathogenic weight control behaviors (e.g., dieting, excessive exercise). To date, only a few studies have examined the long-term stability of eating disorders in collegiate female athletes. The current study investigated the prevalence of eating disorders (i.e., eating disordered, symptomatic, and asymptomatic) and pathogenic weight control behaviors (e.g, binging, vomiting, laxative use) in 325 NCAA-DI female collegiate gymnasts and swimmers/divers across two time points – the beginning of their competitive seasons (Time 1) and during the final two weeks of their competitive seasons (Time 2). By Time 2, 90% of the athletes classified as eating disordered at Time 1 (n = 20) maintained clinical or subclinical eating disturbances. Of the 83 athletes originally symptomatic, 37.3% remained so and 10.8% became eating disordered. Significantly more athletes became satisfied with their bodies over the course of the season than became dissatisfied. The athletes reported using exercise and dieting/fasting as the most frequent forms of weight control behaviors, each of which were used less frequently at Time 2 than at Time 1. The results support overall stability of eating disorder behaviors and classification over the course of a competitive season. Limitations and implications are discussed. University of North Texas Watkins, C. Edward, Jr. Petrie, Trent A. Kaminski, Patricia L. 2015-12 Thesis or Dissertation iii, 58 pages : illustrations Text https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822790/ ark: ark:/67531/metadc822790 English Public Thompson, Alexandra J. Copyright Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.
collection NDLTD
language English
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic Eating disorders
weight control
weight satisfaction
disordered eating
female collegiate athletes
Women college athletes -- Health and hygiene.
Eating disorders in women.
Weight loss.
spellingShingle Eating disorders
weight control
weight satisfaction
disordered eating
female collegiate athletes
Women college athletes -- Health and hygiene.
Eating disorders in women.
Weight loss.
Thompson, Alexandra J.
Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
description Female collegiate athletes have been established as a high-risk group for the development of eating disorders due to the high prevalence rates of clinical and subclinical eating disorders, which have ranged from 1.9% to 16.6% and 4.0% to 26.1%, respectively. Collegiate athletes appear to meet criteria for ED-NOS more often than anorexia or bulimia nervosa, and frequently engage in pathogenic weight control behaviors (e.g., dieting, excessive exercise). To date, only a few studies have examined the long-term stability of eating disorders in collegiate female athletes. The current study investigated the prevalence of eating disorders (i.e., eating disordered, symptomatic, and asymptomatic) and pathogenic weight control behaviors (e.g, binging, vomiting, laxative use) in 325 NCAA-DI female collegiate gymnasts and swimmers/divers across two time points – the beginning of their competitive seasons (Time 1) and during the final two weeks of their competitive seasons (Time 2). By Time 2, 90% of the athletes classified as eating disordered at Time 1 (n = 20) maintained clinical or subclinical eating disturbances. Of the 83 athletes originally symptomatic, 37.3% remained so and 10.8% became eating disordered. Significantly more athletes became satisfied with their bodies over the course of the season than became dissatisfied. The athletes reported using exercise and dieting/fasting as the most frequent forms of weight control behaviors, each of which were used less frequently at Time 2 than at Time 1. The results support overall stability of eating disorder behaviors and classification over the course of a competitive season. Limitations and implications are discussed.
author2 Watkins, C. Edward, Jr.
author_facet Watkins, C. Edward, Jr.
Thompson, Alexandra J.
author Thompson, Alexandra J.
author_sort Thompson, Alexandra J.
title Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
title_short Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
title_full Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
title_fullStr Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
title_full_unstemmed Longitudinal Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Weight Control Behaviors in Female Collegiate Athletes
title_sort longitudinal prevalence of disordered eating and weight control behaviors in female collegiate athletes
publisher University of North Texas
publishDate 2015
url https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc822790/
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