Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Pathogenic Weight Control Behaviors Among NCAA Division I Female Collegiate Gymnasts and Swimmers

Eating disorders and related weight control behaviors, such as excessive exercising and restrictive eating, represent serious health problems for girls and women in the United States and other industrialized nations (Striegel-Moore & Bulik, 2007). Female athletes, in particular, have been identified as a subgroup to study because of the unique weight, performance, and body image pressures they experience from coaches, teammates, fans, and judges. Such “sport-environment” pressures, when combined with general societal messages about the need to be thin and attractive, are thought to substantially increase female athletes’ risk of developing disordered eating problems (Petrie & Greenleaf, 2007). Prevalence research supports the contention that female athletes are at risk for developing eating disorders (Greenleaf, Petrie, Carter, & Reel, 2009; Petrie, Greenleaf, Reel, & Carter, 2009; Sanford-Martens et al., 2005; Sundgot-Borgen & Torstveit, 2004; Torstveit, Rosenvinge, & Sundgot-Borgen, 2008). For example, Greenleaf et al. found that, among a group of female collegiate athletes drawn from 16 different sports, 2% were classified as having a clinical eating disorder (i.e., met the criteria for an eating disorder diagnosis) and another 25.5% as subclinical (i.e., reported symptoms of eating disorders, such as binge eating, excessive dieting, or vomiting, but not sufficient in number or severity to warrant an actual diagnosis). Sanford-Martens et al., who also used a mixedsport sample of female collegiate athletes, reported slightly higher levels of clinical eating problems (5.1%) but lower levels in the subclinical classification (14.5%). In their study of elite female athletes from different sports, Torstveit et al. found the prevalence of clinical eating disorders among the athletes and nonathlete controls was similar; however, lean-sport female athletes (46.7%), which included gymnasts and swimmers among others, had significantly higher levels than nonlean sport athletes (19.8%) or controls (21.4%). In a study of all elite athletes in Norway, Sundgot-Borgen & Torstveit found that more athletes (13.5%) than controls (4.6%; p < .001) had subclinical or clinical eating disorders. When specific sport subgroups were examined, they reported the prevalence of eating disorders among female athletes competing in aesthetic sports (42%), which included gymnastics, was higher than in endurance (24%), technical (17%), and ball game sports (16%). These studies and others (e.g., Kerr, Berman, & Souza, 2006) suggested that female athletes: (a) in general, experience clinical eating disorders and even higher levels of subclinical problems, and (b) may be particularly at risk in sports that identified as aesthetic (e.g., gymnastics) and/or lean (e.g., swimming). Although large-scale studies of at-risk subgroups of athletes (e.g., Sundgot-Borgen & Torstveit, 2004; Torstveit et al., 2008) have been methodologically sound and provided useful prevalence data, they have been limited in two important ways. First, these studies focused solely on elite/Olympic-level athletes from one country. Thus, the generalizability of the findings is limited and little is known about other levels of sport participation, such as college-level athletes. Second, their prevalence data were determined based on either the entire sample (vs. controls) or large subgroups of sports, such as lean, aesthetic, or ball game. Thus, the prevalence data are not specific Prevalence of Disordered Eating and Pathogenic Weight Control Behaviors Among NCAA Division I Female Collegiate Gymnasts and Swimmers