Weight-related eating and physical activity behaviors and disordered eating risk factors of college students who were never athletes, are former high school athletes and are current college athletes

An increased understanding of potential risk factors of disordered eating could assist coaches, athletic trainers, and healthcare providers in identifying individuals at greatest risk of eating disorders. This increased awareness can lead to early intervention when treatment is more effective. Further, understanding how disordered eating risk factors differ by gender and level of athletic participation can assist in the development of group specific screening tools and interventions that target areas of concern specific to each group. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the rates of disordered eating in young adult athletes and non-athletes and to compare their psychographic and personality characteristics, body satisfaction/ dissatisfaction and mindful eating behaviors to identify potential relationships to disordered eating risk. The main research questions for this study are: 1.What are athletes’ eating cognitions and behaviors as reported by sports dietitians and the dietary counseling protocols used by these dietitians for athletes with disordered eating and weight-management diagnoses? 2.What are athletes’ eating cognitions and behaviors, and how do they differ by gender and sport? 3a. What are the weight-related behaviors (eating and physical activity), perceptions of body weight and image, eating disorder risk, and personality traits of young adult college students? 3b. How do weight related behaviors (eating and physical activity), perceptions of body weight and image, eating disorder risk, and personality traits differ among young adult college students who were never athletes (i.e., never participated in organized sports), former and former competitive athletes (i.e., participated in an organized sports in high school but not college), and current and current competitive athletes (i.e., who participated in organized sport in high school and college)? 3c. What are the eating disorder risk factors of young adult college students who were never, former, former competitive, current and current competitive athletes? DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLE A sample of Registered Dietitians, working in the area of sports nutrition (n=15) completed a phone interview assessing athletes’ eating cognitions and behaviors and the dietary counseling protocols used by these dietitians for athletes with disordered eating and weight-management diagnoses. A sample of Division I student athletes (n=14) completed phone interviews that assess eating cognitions and behaviors. Results of the sports dietitian and athlete interviews were mostly congruent and revealed that the staple foods consumed by athletes were generally healthy and were in line with recommendations. Finally, a diverse sample of college students (n=1792) completed an online survey measuring weight-related behaviors (eating and physical activity), perceptions of body weight and image, eating disorder risk, and personality traits to determine how these factors differ among athletes and non-athletes and how these factors related to disordered eating risk. Survey results revealed that predictors of eating disorder risk differ between males and females and across the athlete classifications used in this study.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference