It is well-established that playing sports, particularly team sports, have positive effects [1] on a child or adolescent's self-image and self-esteem. Organized sports allow for participation in activities of cultural importance, achievement of goals, and recognition and respect from others for achievement of those goals. Sports participation also provide experiences for youth athletes that help develop positive attitudes and behaviors.
Sports participation emphasizes competitive success. There are often social expectations and pressure to achieve and to win. Likewise, those with eating disorders [2] and body image disturbances are often subject to external pressures to achieve as well as pressures to appear a certain way.
Pressures to succeed can result in psychological symptoms that are characteristic of eating disorders. One 1999 study found that athletes who experience external pressure are more likely to exercise excessively and that such excessive exercise predicted increased levels of disordered eating patterns. In addition, there may be pressure for athletes who must adhere to weight restrictions (e.g. wrestler) or measuring up to a certain body type (gymnasts, female figure skaters). These issues are especially problematic for females.
In our research, we found that competitiveness was related to body dissatisfaction among female athletes, and that external pressures are related to symptoms of eating disorders. Furthermore, competitiveness among the female athletes we studied was related to body dissatisfaction.
Today's females receive mixed messages from society that recognize the importance of participation in athletics and reward them for maintaining a fit body and having physical power, but at the same time perpetuate a cultural ideal valuing thinness, bust size, waist size, even the kind of makeup they wear and their hairstyles. Often, such a focus promotes femininity and body dissatisfaction. Indeed, studies indicate that females often will not play sports until they are thin enough to wear the right clothes. Some combine athletics with unhealthy measures to manage their weight (laxatives, vomiting, starvation).
To reduce the chances that an athlete will engage in disordered eating or develop a full-blown eating disorder, parents, coaches and athletic trainers need to:
Beverly L. Stiles is an associate professor of sociology at Midwestern State University where she focuses on gender, social psychology, and medical sociology. She can be reached at Beverly.Stiles@mwsu.edu. She is particularly interested in hearing from female athletes who have had problems with eating disorders.
Adapted from Peden, J., Stiles, B., et. al. "The Effects of External Pressures and Competitiveness on Characteristics of Eating Diorders and Body Dissatisfaction." Journal of Sport & Social Issues (November 2008). To order a copy of the complete article, go to http://jmm.sagepub.com. Dr. Stiles gratefuly acknowledges the contribution of Jamie D. Peden to this article.Links:
[1] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/1219
[2] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/975
[3] https://mail.momsteam.com/sports/gymnastics-traditional/disordered-eating-in-gymnastics
[4] https://mail.momsteam.com/nutrition/disordered-eating/female-athlete-triad/high-incidence-of-disordered-eating-in-female-gymna
[5] https://mail.momsteam.com/team-experts/after-a-loss-or-subpar-sports-performance-advice-for-parents
[6] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/no-excuse-for-emotional-abuse-youth-athletes-in-name-of-winning