Athletic Involvement and Its Effect on the Eating Behaviors of College Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate athletic participation and the development of disordered eating behaviors in women by comparing collegiate varsity athletes and the general university populations on three variables: disordered eating behaviors, body satisfaction, and self-esteem. Possible differences between athletes who participate in sports in which a lean figure is conducive to success and athletes who participate in sports in which a lean figure is not conducive to success were also investigated. As disordered eating includes many types of behavior, a disordered eating continuum was used to illustrate. Three existing inventories used to measure eating behaviors, body satisfaction, and self-esteem, respectively, were distributed to college women at a Division I university in the southeastern United States.