title: Eating disorders and their putative risk factors among female German professional athletes.
abstract: This study examines putative non-sport-specific and sport-specific risk factors for eating disorders (ED) among groups of professional female athletes versus non-athletes. In detail, societal pressure to be thin, its internalisation, body dissatisfaction, sports pressure and early specialisation were investigated. The cross-sectional study included 46 aesthetic and 62 ball game sports athletes, and 108 age-matched non-athletes. Study methods comprised a clinical interview to detect ED and questionnaires. More athletes from aesthetic (17%) than from ball game sports (3%) and non-athletes (2%) suffered from ED. Aesthetic sports athletes did not differ from non-athletes in non-sport-specific factors but obtained higher levels than ball game sports athletes in sport-specific variables (p < .01). All factors together accounted for 57.3% of variation in disordered eating, with sports pressure and body dissatisfaction as significant predictors. The results confirm ED risk for German aesthetic athletes and indicate the importance of sports pressure and body dissatisfaction in explaining athletes' vulnerability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.|Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, UK.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thiemann
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, LWL-University Hospital Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Legenbauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Osnabrück, Germany.
authors.forename: Silja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vocks
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine and Sports Medicine and Sports Nutrition, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Platen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Bonnie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Auyeung
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Herpertz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D053716:Female Athlete Triad Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D012307:Risk Factors; D012945:Social Values; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013851:Thinness / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aesthetic and ball game sports; body dissatisfaction; elite performance; sports pressure; women and sport