|
Involvement in organized sports can offer
many benefits, such as improved self-esteem and body image and encouragement for
individuals to remain active throughout their lives. Athletic competition however,
can also cause severe psychological and physical stress. When the pressure of
athletic competition are added to an existing culture emphasis on thinness, the risk
increase for athletes to develop disordered eating. In a study of Division I NCAA
athletes, over one-third of female athletes reported attitudes and symptoms placing them
at risk for anorexia nervosa. Though most athletes with eating disorders are female,
male athletes are also at risk -- especially those competing in sports that tend to place
an emphasis on the athlete's diet, appearance, size, and weight requirements, such as
wrestling, bodybuilding, crew, running, and football. |
|
|
Risk Factors for Athletes: |
|
|
|
Sports that emphasize
appearance or weight requirements. For example: gymnastics, diving, bodybuilding or
wrestling -- e.g., wrestlers trying to "make weight." |
|
|
| |
Sports that
focus on the individual rather than the entire team. For example gymnastics,
running, figure skating, dance or diving, versus teams sports like basketball or soccer. |
|
|
|
Endurance
sports such as: track and field/running, swimming. |
|
|
| |
Inaccurate
belief that lower body weight will improve performance. |
|
|
|
Training for
a sport since childhood or being an elite athlete. |
|
|
|
Low
self-esteem, family dysfunction, families with eating disorders, chronic dieting, history
of physical or sexual abuse, peer, family and cultural pressures to be thin, and other
traumatic life experiences. |
|
|
| |
Coaches who
focus only on success and performance rather than on the athlete as a whole person. |
|
|
| Three factors have been thought to contribute to the odds that a person
will be dissatisfied with his or her body: social influences, performance
anxiety and the athlete’s self-appraisal. |
|
|
| Protective
Factors for Athletes: |
|
|
|
Positive,
person-oriented coaching style rather than negative, performance-oriented coaching style. |
|
|
| |
Social influence and
support from teammates with healthy attitudes towards size and shape. |
|
|
|
Coaches who emphasize
factors that contribute to personal success such as motivation and enthusiasm rather than
body weight or shape |
|
|
|
|
|
| The Female Athlete Triad Includes 1) disordered eating, 2) loss of
menstrual periods and 3) osteoporosis (loss of calcium resulting in weak bones). The lack
of nutrition resulting from disordered eating can cause the loss of several or more
consecutive periods. This in turn leads to calcium and bone loss, putting the athlete at
greatly increased risk for stress fractures of the bones. Each of these conditions is a
medical concern. Together they create serious health risks that may be life threatening.
While any female athlete can develop the triad, adolescent girls are most at risk because
of the active biological changes and growth spurts, peer and social pressures, and rapidly
changing life circumstances that go along with the teenage years. Males may develop
similar syndromes.
The International Olympic Committee has published recommendations for
reducing the risk of the Female Athlete Triad, available at:
http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_517.pdf |
|
|
|
|
©
2005 National Eating Disorders
Association
Permission is granted to copy and reprint materials for educational purposes only.
National Eating Disorders Association must be cited and web address listed. www.NationalEatingDisorders.org
Informational and Referral Helpline: 800.931.2237 |
|
|
|
| Additional Articles Below on Guidelines
for The Role of The Educator Meeting With and Referring Students Who May Have Eating
Disorders. |
|
|
Tips
for School Nurses:
National Association of School Nurses Guidance |
|
|
What Should I Say?
Tips forTalking to a Friend Who May Be
Struggling with an Eating Disorder |
|
|
Athletes and
Eating Disorders:
What Coaches, Parents, and Teammates
Need to Know |
|
|
Eating Disorders Ignored:
The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa
and Associated Disorders |
|
|
|
|
