Female athletes and exercisers tend to exhibit more eating disorder symptoms and behaviors than those who do not exercise as regularly, researchers have found.
Lead study author Jill Holm-Denoma, clinical associate and lecturer in DU’s department of psychology, worked with three researchers from other universities. They surveyed 274 female college undergraduates from a large southeastern state university, asking them about eating disorder symptoms, performance anxiety and their exercise habits.
Participants included: varsity athletes, who exercised an average of two hours per day; club athletes, who practiced their sport an average of four times per week; independent exercisers, who exercised on their own three times per week; and non-exercisers, who exercised up to two times per week.
In addition, Holm-Denoma says, women who experienced higher levels of social anxiety related to exercise — such as those who were nervous they wouldn’t perform well at their sport or who worried how they looked while exercising — were more likely to experience eating disorder symptoms than those who had low levels of anxiety.
Holm-Denoma says her research is an important development for collegiate athletic departments and recreation centers.
“They should consider screening regularly for eating disorders and/or help provide prevention programs to female undergraduates who are on sports teams or who regularly exercise” Holm-Denoma says.
The research was first reported in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.