ATHLETES AND EATING DISORDERS
Participation in athletic activities has numerous benefits for adolescents, including, in some instances, lowering rates of body dissatisfaction and actually serving as a protective factor against the development of eating disorders. Numerous studies have found, however, that the risk for developing disordered eating habits is higher amongst athletes than non-athletes. |
WHO IS AT RISK?
While the pressure of athletic competition has the potential to compel any type of athlete to resort to disordered eating patterns, certain sports are associated with a higher risk of the development of eating disorders than others. Studies have shown that sports which emphasize either performance thinness (the belief that achieving a lower weight and lower percentage body fat will enhance performance) or appearance thinness (the trend to reward thinner athletes in the adjudicated sports) carry with them the highest risk of the development of eating disorders amongst their athletes. Sports that emphasize performance thinness and/or appearance thinness include dancing, gymnastics, diving, long-distance running, and figure skating. Additionally, athletes competing in sports that require their participants to weigh-in prior to competition, such as lightweight rowing, judo, wrestling, and pole-vaulting, are also at a heightened risk for the development of eating disorders. |
MALE ATHLETES
Although eating disorders are more prevalent amongst female athletes than amongst male athletes, this is not to say that male athletes are not also at risk. While male athletes are less likely to feel a pressure to achieve appearance thinness, they are not immune to performance thinness, especially in sports such as gymnastics and wrestling. The pressure to be muscular and strong is likely more influential amongst male athletes than is the pressure to be thin. This can lead to male athletes adopting unhealthy eating and exercise behaviors – including the abuse of anabolic steroids – in an effort to achieve what they believe to be the ideal male figure. A condition known as Muscle Dysmorphia, which a subset of Body Dysmorphic Disorder which is characterized by a pathological preoccupancy with weightlifting and dieting and a belief that one is smaller and weaker than they really are, is actually more common amongst males than it is amongst females (although it does affect both sexes). |