Eating Disorders in Female College Athletes - Risk Factors, Prevention, and Treatment

Oct 15, 2026

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Female college athletes face elevated risk for eating disorders due to social and peer pressures, coaching influences, and the broader sports culture. The review synthesizes research on risk factors and evaluates prevention and treatment approaches, concluding that individual and group interventions are most effective when they leverage sports-based cultural change. It summarizes major disorders, common clinical symptoms, associated psychological features, and documented prevalence estimates among college women, while discussing how evidence about athletic participation and comparative risk remains mixed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

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Eating Disorders in Female College Athletes: Risk Factors, Prevention, and Treatment

Eating Disorders

Risk Factors for Developing an Eating Disorder - Social Pressure

# Eating Disorders in Female College Athletes:Risk Factors,Prevention,and Treatment Frances C.Pearson,Tara C.Rivers Female atbletes are at risk for developing eating disorders because of the pressures that areplaced on them by society,their peers,their coacbes,and the sports culture itself.Thispaper reviews the literature on the rise factors involved and various methods of preventionand treatment.The authors conclude that individual and group approaches are mosteffective when they utilize the sports culture to change attitudes and behaviors. Eating disorders have become a problem on many college campuses(Holston&Cashwell,2000),with as many as one-third of college women engaging insome kind of disordered eating behavior (Grigg,Bowman &Redman,1996;Joiner &Kashubeck,1996).Eating disorders are usually associated with a fearof gaining weight and excessive emphasis on body shape and weight.One ofthe most common eating disorders is anorexia nervosa,which is characterizedby self-starvation and a distorted perception of body size and/or shape.Individuals affected by anorexia nervosa are generally secretive and exhibit asteady decline in body weight.Physical symptoms include fatigue,low bloodsugar,thinning hair,slowed metabolic rate,and in severe cases,an absence ofregular menstruation,bone loss,a weakened heart,and even death.Depressivesymptoms such as withdrawal,irritability,and insomnia are also exhibited.Individuals with anorexia nervosa are often in denial about their condition orlack insight into the problem.Another common eating disorder is bulimianervosa in which individuals consume a large amount of food and thencompensate by vomiting,using laxatives or diuretics,fasting,or exercisingexcessively.The physical symptoms include dehydration,vitamin and mineraldeficiencies,bad breath,damage to vital organs,and blisters in the throat.There are rare,but potentially fatal complications,such as esophageal tears,gastric rupture,and cardiac arrhythmias.Depressive symptoms or mooddisorders are common,as well as anxiety and substance abuse(AmericanPsychiatric Association,1994). Those who are most at risk of developing eating disorders are Caucasian,middle-to-upper class educated populations in developed countries (LoBuono,2001).They may exhibit perfectionism,obsessive compulsive behavior,socialwithdrawal,depression,and high achievement (Seidenfeld &Rickert,2001). ## Eating Disorders Although anorexia nervosa can occur in men,nearly 90%of the cases haveoccurred in women (DSM-IV,1994).Likewise,Bulimia is less common inmen,but occurs in 1%-3%of young women (DSM-IV,1994).One study offemale college students showed that 14%had binged and purged at least oncein their lives(Kashubeck,Marchand-Martella,Neal,&Larsen,1997).Anotherstudy showed 61%of college women reported behaviors characteristic ofeating disorders and 20%acknowledged some type of eating disorder (Levitt,2004). There is some evidence that participation in athletics,especially weight-dependent and competitive sports,increases an individual’s likelihood ofdeveloping an eating disorder (Beals,Brey,&Gonyou,1999;DiBartolo &Shaffer,2002;Kirk,Singh,&Getz,2001;Picard,1999).Some researchers(e.g.Berry &Howe,2000;Kirk et al,2001)have argued that female athletes are atparticular risk for eating disorders because of the sports culture and thepressures they place on themselves,but the results of empirical studiescomparing female athletes and non-athletes have been inconclusive(Kirk et al,2001).Kirk et al.found no differences between female athletes and non-athletes,however two other studies showed female athletes to have lowerincidences of eating disorders than non-athletes (Reiking &Alexander,2005;Sanford-Martens,Davidson,Yakushko,Martens,Hinton,&Beck,2005).Astudy by Hopkins &Lock(2004)demonstrated higher perfectionism andeating disorders among athletes than non-athletes.Similarly,Johnson et al.(2004)showed that female athletes scored lower than other groups on self-esteem and higher on

FAQs

Why are female college athletes at higher risk for eating disorders?

They experience pressures from society, peers, coaches, and sports culture, alongside strong expectations about being thin and performance-related body standards.

What are the key characteristics of anorexia nervosa described in the text?

Anorexia nervosa is marked by self-starvation and distorted body-size/shape perception, often with secrecy, progressive weight decline, and physical symptoms such as fatigue, low blood sugar, thinning hair, and severe medical complications.

What does the review suggest about effective prevention and treatment strategies?

Individual and group approaches are most effective when they use the sports culture to shift attitudes and behaviors, rather than relying on stand-alone interventions.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by jayni