Cheerleading Eating Disorder
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Throughout many years, cheerleading has been believed to be an enjoyable group activity to stay fit and healthy. However, cheerleading has been a leading reason for eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia among all other sports. Bulimia is less severe than anorexia because bulimic people tend to consume a minimal quantity of calories, while anorexic people perceive their body as fatter than it actually is and starve themselves. However, they are both dangerous eating disorders that put the lives of those suffering from any of them in danger. In fact, both social factors and psychological affect the development if eating disorders in cheerleaders. The social factors include: idealization of a standard weight, competition among the cheerleaders, and coach pressure. On another hand, the psychological factors include mainly understanding performance, demographic factors such as gender and race, and exercise orientation. Cheerleading is a sport in which the females get lifted and perform stunts often. That lead to the idealization of a standard weight for cheerleaders who get pressured by their coaches. Borgen and Corbin (1987) found that female athletes involved in activities that emphasized leanness (ballet, gymnastics, body building, and cheerleading) more often had eating disorder symptoms similar to those of individuals with anorexia than female athletes in sports that did not emphasize leanness such as swimming, track and field, and volleyball(Thompson & Sherman, 2003, p. 320). In fact, the types of sports that emphasize leanness are feminine and demand a very light and lean body for the best performance. In addition, these types of sports usually count on appearance as a main opponent with their revealing uniforms. In fact, cheerleaders’ appearance counts for their success: they wear revealing attires which highlight their bodies and make them very noticeable. So, people expect
Throughout many years, cheerleading has been believed to be an enjoyable group activity to stay fit and healthy. However, cheerleading has been a leading reason for eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia among all other sports. Bulimia is less severe than anorexia because bulimic people tend to consume a minimal quantity of calories, while anorexic people perceive their body as fatter than it actually is and starve themselves. However, they are both dangerous eating disorders that put the lives of those suffering from any of them in danger. In fact, both social factors and psychological affect the development if eating disorders in cheerleaders. The social factors include: idealization of a standard weight, competition among the cheerleaders, and coach pressure. On another hand, the psychological factors include mainly understanding performance, demographic factors such as gender and race, and exercise orientation. Cheerleading is a sport in which the females get lifted and perform stunts often. That lead to the idealization of a standard weight for cheerleaders who get pressured by their coaches. Borgen and Corbin (1987) found that female athletes involved in activities that emphasized leanness (ballet, gymnastics, body building, and cheerleading) more often had eating disorder symptoms similar to those of individuals with anorexia than female athletes in sports that did not emphasize leanness such as swimming, track and field, and volleyball(Thompson & Sherman, 2003, p. 320). In fact, the types of sports that emphasize leanness are feminine and demand a very light and lean body for the best performance. In addition, these types of sports usually count on appearance as a main opponent with their revealing uniforms. In fact, cheerleaders’ appearance counts for their success: they wear revealing attires which highlight their bodies and make them very noticeable. So, people expect
References: Reel, J.J. & Gill, D.L. (1996). Psychosocial factors related to eating disorders among high school and college female cheerleaders. The Sport Psychologist, 10, 195-206. Woertmann, L. et al. (2011). Contextual Body Image and Athletes’ Disordered Eating: The Contribution of Athletic Body Image to Disordered Eating in High Performance Women Athletes. Europpean Eating Disorders Review, 19(3), 201-315. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from the PubMed database. Thompson, R. & Sherman R. (2003). The Last Word: Cheerleader Weight Standards. Eating Disorders, 11(1), 87-90. Thompson, S. & Digsby S.(2004). A Preliminary Survey of Dieting, Body Dissatisfaction, and Eating Problems Among High School Cheerleaders. Journal of School Health, 74(3), 85-90.