Identifying college athletes at risk for pathogenic eating.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness of a discriminant function that predicts risk of pathogenic eating in comparison with a standard self report measure (EAT) and a clinical interview. In addition, to determine the effectiveness of this discriminant function using a variety of collegiate athletes.


METHODS
A total of 319 participants were asked to complete a series of self report measures that assessed dietary practices. In addition, anthropometric measures were obtained, and a random sample of 15% participated in a structured clinical interview.


RESULTS
Correlational analyses indicated that the discriminant function categorisation of risk was significantly related to both the clinical interview and EAT (p < or =0.05). The discriminant function was accurate in predicting risk category in this diverse group of athletes, particularly with respect to those at low risk (83.1%) and those at high risk (72.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
This information may be helpful in the development of a simple, accessible tool to identify athletes at risk of engaging in pathogenic eating behaviours.
DePalma
M T
MT
Department of Psychology, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA. depalma@ithaca.edu
Koszewski
W M
WM
Romani
W
W
Case
J G
JG
Zuiderhof
N J
NJ
McCoy
P M
PM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000145:classification*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D013177:Sports / Q000523:psychology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D014495:Universities