Risk and protective factors for eating, weight, and body image problems
While athletics can be protective, there are ways in which athletics present a risk for eating, body image and weight-related problems:
- Both male and female college athletes are more likely to develop eating disorders (Johnson et al, 1999) although female athletes seem to be particularly at risk (Nattiv et al, 2007; Patel et al, 2003). Women make connections between performance and food intake and have appearance concerns about weight gain.
- Women who participate in sports tend to have higher levels of eating disorder symptoms (Holm-Denoma et al, 2009; Smolak et al , 2000)
- It is possible athletes may develop eating disorders because of sports participation and related pressures of competition.
- It is possible people already at risk for eating disorders may become involved in athletics, possibly as a means of managing weight.
- The higher the level of sports of anxiety in women athletes, the more likely they are to experience bulimia and a drive for thinness. (Holm-Denoma, 2009)
- Risk factors for adolescent athletes are greatest when sports participation involves emphasis on weight, lean body type, pressure from coaches, high intensity training, and training and dieting at an early age (Patel et al, 2003).
