Relationships between attitudes towards eating disorders and mood

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether gender moderates the relationship between mood and attitudes toward eating disorders in athletes. 165 athletes (Male = 99; Female = 66) completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Profile of Mood States-A (POMS-A), and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). To test the proposed moderating effect, multisample structural equation modelling was used with equality constraints placed on relationships between mood and EAT scores. Results indicated that relationships between mood and EAT scores did not differ significantly between males and females (CFI = .988), thereby demonstrating that gender did not have a moderating effect. Mood significantly accounted for 38% of the variance in EAT scores in males and 29% of the variance in females, with depressed mood scores showing the strongest relationship with EAT scores. Findings support the use of mood profiling in applied work, and suggest negative mood, particular depressed mood, might be masking a disordered eating attitude. It is suggested that follow-up interviews should be conducted with athletes who report symptoms of depressed mood to ascertain its cause and that further research is needed to investigate the nature of disordered eating attitudes in athletes.