Eating Disorder Prevalence and Symptoms for Track and Field Athletes and Nonathletes

The general purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence and symptoms of eating disorders (ED) for 412 high school, university, and elite male and female track and field athletes and higher- and lower-active nonathletes. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (Garner, 1991 Garner, D. M. 1991. Eating Disorder Inventory-2. Professional manual, Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. [Google Scholar]) to assess ED symptoms and the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnosis (Mintz, O'Holloran, Mulholland, & Schneider, 1997 Mintz, L. B., O'Holloran, M. S., Mulholland, A. M. and Schneider, P. A. 1997. Questionnaire for eating disorder diagnosis: Reliability and validity of operationalizing DSM-IV into a self-report format. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44: 63–79. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to assess ED prevalence. We found that: (a) the women had greater Drive for Thinness and Body Dissatisfaction symptoms and a higher prevalence of ED than the men, (b) nonathletes reported greater Body Dissatisfaction symptoms than the athletes, (c) higher-active nonathletes had a higher prevalence of ED than the athletes and lower-active nonathletes, (d) the high school athletes had greater Ineffectiveness and Maturity Fears symptoms than the college and elite athletes, and e) there were no sport-group differences (i.e., middle/long distance, sprint, and field) for either ED symptoms or prevalence. Implications of these results and future directions are discussed.