Abstract
Disordered eating and eating disorders have huge impact on athletic health and performance. Understanding risk factors for disordered eating development is paramount to protecting the health and performance of these athletes. This project tested a model longitudinally to test whether body dissatisfaction (mediated by negative affect) and societal pressures (mediated by internalisation) predicted bulimic symptomatology at 1 year. The study recruited 1017 male and female athletes in a range of sports at three time points over a year. Cross-lag meditation modelling in MPLUS was utilised to test the hypothesised model. Results indicated that societal pressures mediated by general internalisation led to bulimic symptomatology and that gender and sport type do moderate the relationships. However, measurement issues indicate that scales not originally created for athletes may not reliably measure athletes' experience. This research highlights how understanding how to better assess risk factors and disordered eating related concepts in athletes is a key next step. The study is unique in its longitudinal design and in its sampling of a wide range of sports in both male and female athletes.
Highlights
Eating disorders, including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder, are psychiatric illnesses that have significant negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing [1,2,3]
How item responses were understood across time, was not achieved for Bulimia and Body Dissatisfaction– the fit of the Body Dissatisfaction with scalar invariance, though significantly worse than the metric invariance model, was still satisfactory with the CFI greater than 0.90 for metric and configural models
It was hypothesised that Body Dissatisfaction at T1 would have a positive and significant relationship with Bulimia at T3 as mediated by Negative Affect at T2, this was not supported
Summary
Eating disorders, including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder, are psychiatric illnesses that have significant negative impact on physical and mental wellbeing [1,2,3]. Disordered eating, defined as a subclinical level of issues with food restriction, bingeing and purging behaviours [6] has a much higher prevalence rate than clinically diagnosable eating disorders in both the general and sporting population [7,8,9]. Exercise is often a symptom or maintenance factor for an eating disorder, it is an integral part of sport [10, 11], which means it is difficult to distinguish pathological from ‘normal’ exercise in athletes. The link between body shape and physical exercise is undeniable, making sport a complex feeding ground for disordered eating.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
