DIFFERENCES IN BODY ATTITUDE BETWEEN AESTHETIC AND NON-AESTHETIC SPORTS IN FEMALE COLLEGIATE ATHLETES

Abstract

PURPOSE To compare body attitude measurements of female collegiate lacrosse players (non-aesthetic), dance team (aesthetic) members and controls within the competitive season. METHODS Participants were 27 lacrosse players, 20 dance team members and 64 non-athlete controls. Participants were administered a nine-figure silhouette scale and asked to circle the best representation of how they think they look (cognitive), how they feel they look (emotional) and how they want to look (ideal) on separate scales. Within and across group differences for body attitude were compared using one-way ANOVA. Post-hoc analysis was performed using the Tukey procedure. RESULTS Significant differences were found within the individual groups including the lacrosse (p < 0.0001) and dance (p < 0.0001) teams ideal versus cognitive and emotional perceptions. A significant difference was also found between the ideal scores of both athletic groups compared to the controls (p = 0.032) suggesting both athletic groups idealized a smaller body size than age-matched controls. However, no significant differences were found between the two athletic groups on any body attitude parameter. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate no differences in body attitude between these aesthetic and non-aesthetic sports. Nonetheless, the results do suggest that female collegiate athletes may suffer from a higher degree of body dissatisfaction or idealize a smaller body size than their age-matched counterparts. This higher degree of body dissatisfaction could potentially lead to an increased risk for the development of eating disordered behaviors in a population were performance and not body size should be the focus.