Fear of fat in runners: an examination of the connection between anorexia nervosa and distance running.

Recently, Yates, Leehey, and Shisslak ( 4 ) explored the similarity between patients with anorexia nervosa and a subgroup of male distance runners termed "obligatory runners," noting obligatory runners resembled anorexics in numerous personality characteristics and suggest that these "two groups may represent a single mode of behavior." Fear of fat has been determined to be a chief diagnostic sign in anorexia nervosa ( 1 ) . Runners, also commonly weight-conscious, may similarly adhere to rigid diets to maximize their performances. Perhaps a strong fear of fat may be prevalent among runners. This trait was not directly measured by Yates, e; al., rendering premature an equation between obligatory runners and anorexia nervosa patients. The present study assessed fear of fat in male and female distance runners to assess the association between running zealousness and fear of fat. For runners (136 men, 64 women) in a ten-kilometer road race in the Midwest we obtained scores on the Goldfarb Fear of Fat Scale ( 2 ) , personalicy characteristics using the Activity Vector Analysis ( 3 ) . and biographical and running history dam. Our results may not support a connection between running and fear of fat, a central component of anorexia nervosa. Of 200 runners, only 29 (14 .5%) had a high fear of fat score (i.e., between 6 and 10 on the scale). Over-all, the mean fear of fat score for these runners was 2.91 (SD = 2.29), indicating a low-normal fear of fat ( 2 ) . Importantly, these scores did not correlate significantly with any of the measures of running zealousness including miles run per week ( r = .04), number of workouts per week ( r = .09) , number of roadraces ( r = .05) , or marathons completed ( r = -.O5), and degree of importance placed on running ( r = .03). The runners who demonstrated the greatest zealousness (i.e., ran 10 or more marathons and trained an average of 57.70 miles per week) demonstrated AVA profiles that closely clustered around one particular profile ( r = .64, f i < .05) consisting of high ipsative scores on aggressiveness and dependence and low ipsative scores on sociability and emotional stability. A standard AVA interpretation of this combination of scores indicates that these individuals are assertive, obsessive, perfectionistic, and anxious. In this respect, the runners most closely resembling "obligatory runners" in terms of their high zealousness exhibited traits characterisric of anorexia nervosa patients, who are notorious for their obsessive-compulsiveness and high anxiety ( 1 ) . These data do not support an equation between obligatory runners and anorexia nervosa patients, because the lack of fear of fat in runners is conspicuous. Data do s u p port Yates, et al.'s contention that obligatory runners are characterized by high obsessive-compulsive and anxious rendencies. Perhaps rhe shared features of anorexia and a problematic program of obligatory running represent variant manifestations of an underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, our data indicate that runners, as a group, represent diverse personalities and train and compete without signs of pathology.