Enhancing appearance and sports performance: are female collegiate athletes behaving more like males?
OBJECTIVE
The authors designed this study to determine if differences exist between male and female collegiate athletes' supplement use and behaviors to modify body appearance.


METHODS
Collegiate athletes who participated in this study were 241 females and 210 males, aged 17 to 28 years.


METHODS
Participants completed a questionnaire about the average number of times each week they performed specific supplementing, exercise, or dietary behaviors.


RESULTS
The authors found differences associated with gender for 9 of the 18 behaviors. Specifically, 2 of these 9 behaviors were dietary, 1 was supplementary, 3 were physique concerns, and 3 involved personal motivation for weightlifting.


CONCLUSIONS
Male athletes reported a higher drive for size, speed, and power, whereas female athletes were more concerned with body fat, more likely to restrict caloric intake, and more prone to consume weight loss supplements. No differences were found by gender regarding supplement use to increase body size.
Muller
Susan M
SM
Health, Physical Education, and Human Performance Department, Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD 21801, USA. smmuller@salisbury.edu
Gorrow
Teena R
TR
Schneider
Sidney R
SR
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D013177:Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult