Navigating the thin-ideal in an athletic world: influence of coach communication on female athletes’ body image and health choices

Abstract

This study sought to investigate how interpersonal communication between coaches and female athletes influences the female athletes’ perceptions of body image and health choices. Much of the current literature has focused on the fact that female athletes are at risk for disordered eating and a distorted body image due to susceptibility to the feminine “thin-ideal” while maintaining the fitness levels necessary to compete in their sport. However, very little research has examined how interpersonal interaction plays a role in female athletes’ body image perceptions and health behaviors. Utilizing the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) as a lens to examine communication between female athletes and their coaches, the researchers analyzed transcripts from in-depth interviews with 28 female athletes and identified themes within the personal, relational, enacted, and communal layers of identity. Coach communication with their female athletes was found to be influential to the athletes’ body images and health choices.