Disordered eating in female collegiate athletes and collegiate females in an advanced program of study: a preliminary investigation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to use the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2) to compare disordered eating pathology between female intercollegiate athletes and a control group of nonathletic subjects enrolled in an advanced program of study. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures revealed no significant difference (NSD) (p > .05) between any of the athletic groups or the control group on any EDI-2 subscale, and there was no significant difference between "lean" sports, other sports, and the control group. There was also NSD on EDI-2 subscale scores on the basis of age. African Americans had significantly lower scores on the Body Dissatisfaction and Impulse Regulation subscales than white Americans. Chi-square analysis revealed NSD between any groups in percentage of respondents scoring above anorexic norms. The results did not indicate a greater amount of disordered eating in female athletes compared to nonathlete controls.