Athletic Drive May Drive Disordered Eating

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A strong drive to be thin and to excel in their chosen sport are strong predictors of disordered eating behaviors among elite female collegiate athletes, according to results of a survey employing a new screening questionnaire designed specifically for women athletes.

Roughly 8 million Americans suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia and it is estimated that 19 percent of college-aged women are bulimic.

Collegiate athletes -- particularly those in sports that emphasize a lean body or specific look, such as gymnastics and figure skating -- are at especially high risk for eating disorders.

As Pamela S. Hinton, an assistant professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia explained to Reuters Health, athletes often exhibit "disordered eating" as opposed to having a "true" eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa. Therefore, an athlete-oriented screening tool that accurately spots disordered eating would be useful, she said.

Therefore, Hinton and a colleague designed the "ATHLETE" questionnaire specifically to assess psychosocial factors associated with disordered eating among athletes.

According to Hinton, in an initial test of its reliability and validity, the ATHLETE "performed well" among 167 top varsity female athletes from nine different sports at three NCAA Division I schools.

The ATHLETE was very effective in predicting the presence or absence of disordered eating, Hinton told Reuters Health. High scores in two areas in particular -- "a drive for thinness motivated by a strong desire to improve performance, and social pressure on body shape" -- were the strongest predictors of disordered eating in the athletes, raising the odds of disordered eating by greater than 10-fold and 5-fold, respectively.

As an example, athletes earned high scores on these two measures if they related positively to the following statements:

I would be more successful in my sport if my body looked better. I often wish I were leaner so I could perform better. I am trying to lose weight for my sport. I train more than is required by my sport to burn more calories. My friends, coach, teammates, parents, or society make me feel I am fat.

The college athletes who took the questionnaire ranged in age from 18 to 22 and competed in volleyball, swimming, basketball, cross-country, soccer, gymnastics, lacrosse, and track and field. More than 80 percent were recruited to play their sport in college and 78 percent had received a scholarship to play.

Sixty percent of the athletes acknowledged wanting to shed at least five pounds for their sport and 30 percent were actively trying to do so. About 16 percent of the athletes either met criteria or showed signs of having an eating disorder.