prevalence of women athletes and eating disorders
The Prevalence of Women Athletes and Eating Disorders
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (2013) in the United States twenty million women suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life including anorexia, bulimia nervosa, binge eating and others. There seems to be a correlation between women sports, for example dancing, gymnastics, figure skating ...etc., and eating disorders. These competitive and strenuous sports may put a lot pressure and lead females to an eating disorder. Many studies suggest that athletes may be more likely to develop an eating disorder, especially in such sports in which appearance, leanness, thinness, weight or shape can play a major role. The participation of female in sports has increased significantly over the past ten years. This may arise many health concerns. One may argue that sports environment may be a protective factor instead of a risk factor of eating disorders but there are a lot of things to take into consideration. For example the pressure to maintain a low body weight exerted by coaches, relatives, and friends, as well as lack of professional guidance can make an athlete vulnerable to the onset of disordered eating, and comprising her performance (as cited in Panza, Coelho, Di Pietro, De Assis & vasconcelos, 2007). Two researchers reviewed various studies in which they read one hundred sixty-nine articles and excluded one hundred twenty-nine which were irrelevant. They were left with twenty-two studies from eleven different countries. These studies were conducted to show the presence of eating disorders and its complications among young female athletes and non-athletes. They gathered data and all the studies used validated self reported questionnaires to screen for disordered eating with the exception of two studies. They used these questionnaires to track for any eating
Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (2013) in the United States twenty million women suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life including anorexia, bulimia nervosa, binge eating and others. There seems to be a correlation between women sports, for example dancing, gymnastics, figure skating ...etc., and eating disorders. These competitive and strenuous sports may put a lot pressure and lead females to an eating disorder. Many studies suggest that athletes may be more likely to develop an eating disorder, especially in such sports in which appearance, leanness, thinness, weight or shape can play a major role. The participation of female in sports has increased significantly over the past ten years. This may arise many health concerns. One may argue that sports environment may be a protective factor instead of a risk factor of eating disorders but there are a lot of things to take into consideration. For example the pressure to maintain a low body weight exerted by coaches, relatives, and friends, as well as lack of professional guidance can make an athlete vulnerable to the onset of disordered eating, and comprising her performance (as cited in Panza, Coelho, Di Pietro, De Assis & vasconcelos, 2007). Two researchers reviewed various studies in which they read one hundred sixty-nine articles and excluded one hundred twenty-nine which were irrelevant. They were left with twenty-two studies from eleven different countries. These studies were conducted to show the presence of eating disorders and its complications among young female athletes and non-athletes. They gathered data and all the studies used validated self reported questionnaires to screen for disordered eating with the exception of two studies. They used these questionnaires to track for any eating
References: Coehlo, G. M. O., Soares E. A., Ribeiro B. G. (2010). Are female athletes at increased risk for disordered eating and its complications? Appetite, 55, 379-387. Haase, A. M. (2010). Weight perception in female athletes: Associations with disordered eating correlates and behavior. Eating Behaviors, 12, 64-67 Smolak, L., Murnen, S. K., Ruble, A. E. (1999). Female athletes and eating problems: A meta-analysis. Journal of Eating disorders, 372-380. Sundgot-Borgen, J. (1993). Risk and trigger factors for the development of eating disorders in female elite athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Vol.26, 4, 414-419.