Risk for eating disorders in "high"- and "low"-risk sports and football (soccer) : a profile analysis with clustering techniques

  1. Godoy-Izquierdo, Débora 1
  2. Díaz Ceballos, Isabel 2
  3. Ramírez Molina, María J. 1
  4. Navarrón Vallejo, Estefanía 1
  5. Dosil Díaz, Joaquín 3
  1. 1 Universidad de Granada, España
  2. 2 Universidad de Cantabria, España
  3. 3 Universidad de Vigo, España
Show affiliations +
Journal:
Revista de psicología del deporte

ISSN: 1132-239X,  1988-5636

Year of publication: 2019

Volume: 28

Issue: 2

Pages: 117-126

Type: Article

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDDD editor

More publications in: Revista de psicología del deporte

Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are prevalent in sports. Although a distinction has been made to date between high- and low-risk sports for EDs, recent studies have indicated that footballers and other athletes in low-risk sports are as vulnerable for Eds as athletes from sports that emphasize weight and body appearance. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are particular configurations of psychosocial risk factors for EDs among athletes from different sports (N = 357), with a special focus on football players. The Athlete's Eating Habits Questionnaire (CHAD) was used to establish intra-individual configurations through a multivariate k-means cluster analysis. We found that 10. 9% of athletes and 11. 4% of the footballers had scores on the CHAD ≥ 100 points, which indicates that a large number of athletes are at risk for developing or may already be suffering from an ED. Three configurations or risk profiles emerged based on the beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that reflect differential schemata for each cluster: high (8. 7%), moderate (45. 1%) and low (46. 2%) risk. Football players had a profile that was similar to the moderate, though existent, risk cluster. Our findings also question the traditional classification of sports as high- vs. low-risk. Athletes, including footballers, may have a heightened risk for EDs when they have certain combinations of dysfunctional beliefs, attitudes and behaviours. Our findings indicate that it is important to consider relevant predisposing factors with the aims of risk detection and EDs prevention among athletes. The type of sport does not appear to be the most important risk factor.

€ View funding

Funding information

is research was partly supported by the financial aid to the research group “Psicología de la Salud/Medicina Con-ductual” (CTS-0267) conceded by the Consejería de Inno-vación, Ciencia y Empresa, Junta de Andalucía (Spain). We are grateful to all those who made this study possible.

Funders

Bibliographic References

  • Barnette, J.J. (2000). E/ects of stem and Likert response option reversals on survey internal consistency: If you feel the need, there is a better alternative to using those negatively worded stems. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60(3), 361-370.
  • Berry, T. and Howe, B. (2000). Risk factors for disordered eating in female university athletes. Journal of Sport Behavior, 23(3), 207-218.
  • Bratland-Sanda, S. and Sundgot-Borgen, J. (2013). Eating disorders in athletes: Overview of prevalence, risk factors and recommendations for prevention and treatment. European Journal of Sport Science, 13(5), 499-508.
  • Calinski, T. and Harabasz, J. (1974). A dendrite method for cluster analysis. Communications in Statistics, 3(1), 1-27.
  • Castro, J., Toro, J., Salamero, M. and Guimerá, E. (1991). <e Eating Attitudes Test: Validation of the Spanish version. Evaluación Psicológica/Psychological Assessment, 7, 175-190.
  • Currie, A. (2010). Sport and eating disorders Understanding and managing the risks. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine, 1(2), 63-68.
  • Díaz, I. (2014). Trastornos de alimentación en el futbolista: Pautas para su detección y prevención. En M. Ro/é y S. Rivera, Entrenamiento mental en el fútbol moderno. Herramientas prácticas (pp. 254-271). Argentina: Fútbol De Libro.
  • Díaz, I. and Dosil, J. (2012). Trastornos de alimentación en deportistas de alto rendimiento. Madrid: Ed. Consejo Superior de Deportes.
  • Díaz, I., Godoy-Izquierdo, D., Vallejo, E., Molina, M.J. and Dosil, J. (2018). Eating disorders in sports and football: An updated review. Cuadernos de Psicología del Deporte, 18(2), 43-56.
  • Dosil, J. (2008). Eating disorders in athletes. Chichester, UK: Willey-Interscience.
  • Dosil, J., Díaz, I., Viñolas, A. and Díaz, O. (2012). Prevención y detección de los trastornos de alimentación en deportistas de alto rendimiento (CAR, CEARE y CTD). Cuadernos de Psicología del Deporte, 12(1), 163-166.
  • Garner, D.M. and Gar€nkel, P.E. (1979). <e Eating Attitudes Test: An index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9(2), 273-279.
  • Glazer, J.L. (2008). Eating disorders among male athletes. Current Sports Medicine Reports, 7(6), 332-337.
  • Gomes, A.R., Martins, C. and Silva, L. (2011). Eating disordered behaviours in Portuguese athletes: <e in*uence of personal, sport, and psychological variables. European Eating Disorders Review, 19(3), 190-200.
  • Gouttebarge, V., Aoki, H. and Kerkho/s, G. (2015). Symptoms of common mental disorders and adverse health behaviours in male professional soccer players. Journal of Human Kinetics, 49(1), 277-286.
  • Gouttebarge, V., Backx, F.J., Aoki, H. and Kerkhos, G.M. (2015). Symptoms of common mental disorders in professional football (soccer) across €ve European countries. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, 14(4), 811-818.
  • Gouttebarge, V., Frings-Dresen, M.H. W. and Sluiter, J.K. (2015). Mental and psychosocial health among current and former professional footballers. Occupational Medicine, 65(3), 190-196.
  • Greenleaf, C., Petrie, T.A., Carter, J. and Reel, J.J. (2009). Female collegiate athletes: Prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors. Journal of American College Health, 57(5), 489-496.
  • Jain, A.K., Murty, N.M. and Flynn, P.J. (1999). Data clustering: A review. Computing Surveys, 31(3), 264-322.
  • Kirk, G., Singh, K. and Getz, H. (2001). Risk of eating disorders among female college athletes and nonathletes. Journal of College Counseling, 4(2), 122-132.
  • Milligan, B. and Pritchard, M. (2006). "e relationship between gender, type of sport, body dissatisfaction, self esteem and disordered eating behaviors in division I athletes. Athletic Insight, 8(1), 32-46.
  • Milligan, G.W. and Cooper, M.C. (1985). An examination of procedures for determining the number of clusters in a data set. Psychometrika, 50(2), 159-179.
  • Morgado de Oliveira, G., de Abreu, E. and Gonçalves, B.G. (2010). Are female athletes at increased risk for disordered eating and its complications?. Appetite, 55(3), 379-387.
  • Nordin-Bates, S.M., Cumming, J., Aways, D. and Sharp, L. (2011). Imagining yourself dancing to perfection? Correlates of perfectionism among ballet and contemporary dancers. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, 5(1), 58-76.
  • Papathomas, A. and Lavallee, D. (2012). Eating disorders in sport: A call for methodological diversity. Revista de Psicología del Deporte, 21(2), 387-392.
  • Sanford-Martens, T.C., Davidson, M.M., Yakushko, O.F., Martens, M.P. and Hinton, P. (2005). Clinical and subclinical eating disorders: An examination of collegiate athletes. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 17(1), 79-86.
  • Sundgot-Borgen, J. and Garthe, I. (2011). Elite athletes in aesthetic and Olympic weight-class sports and the challenge of body weight and body compositions. Journal of Sports Sciences, 29(S), S101-S114.
  • Sundgot-Borgen, J. and Torstveit, M.K. (2007). "e female football player, disordered eating, menstrual function and bone health. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(S1), i68-i72.
  • Sundgot‐Borgen, J. and Torstveit, M.K. (2010). Aspects of disordered eating continuum in elite high‐intensity sports. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 20(s2), 112-121.
  • Torstveit, M.K. and Sundgot-Borgen, J. (2005). "e female athlete triad: Are elite athletes at increased risk?. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 37(2), 184-193.
  • Williams, P.L., Sargent, R.G. and Durstine, L.J. (2003). Prevalence of subclinical eating disorders in collegiate female athletes. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 12(2), 127-145.
Data source: Dialnet