جنسیت، قومیت، عزت نفس و اختلال تغذیه ای در میان ورزشکاران دانشجو

Abstract Objective This study was undertaken to compare ethnic and gender differences regarding self-esteem and various disordered eating attitudes and behaviors among elite college athletes. Method A total of 1445 student athletes from 11 Division I schools were surveyed using a 133-item questionnaire. Results

Low self-esteem is a primary risk factor for developing an eating disorder and is highly correlated with body dissatisfaction, another primary risk factor for eating disorders Garner, 1991, Johnson & Maddi, 1986 and Thompson, 1996. Women, overall, report lower self-esteem and higher body dissatisfaction than men, suggesting a gender bias Garner, 1991 and Thompson, 1996. One notable exception to these overall findings is among Black women. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Black women report higher self-esteem and lower drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction than White women. These data suggest that there may be factors within certain ethnic groups, particularly African Americans, that protect against eating disorders Abrams et al., 1993, Chandler et al., 1994, Crago et al., 1996, Glass et al., 1993, Rucker & Cash, 1993, Story et al., 1995, Striegel-Moore & Smolak, 1996, Striegel-Moore & Smolak, 2000 and Wilfley et al., 1996. As part of the search for protective factors against eating disorders, the question has been raised whether success in athletics for women would be a protective factor against body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and low self-esteem Johnson et al., 1999 and Powers & Johnson, 1996. The current study was undertaken on a large sample of Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes to compare gender and ethnic differences regarding self-esteem and various eating disorder attitudes and behaviors. Findings presented are a follow-up of Engel et al. (2003) demonstrating a number of disordered eating predictors in elite collegiate athletes and a more comprehensive investigation of the variables of gender and ethnicity.

3. Results 3.1. Description of the sample The sample included 1445 NCAA athletes from 11 schools in 11 different sports; football, basketball, track, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, cross-country, crew, tennis, Nordic skiing, and volleyball. The 1445 athletes represented approximately 90% of the athletes on the teams that were surveyed. From this sample, 1287 Black and White athletes were selected for this analysis. Male football players comprised the largest group of participants (384) and the largest female group comprised 135 swimmers. The sample included no females in football or wrestling and no males in basketball. The average age was 19.9 years; females were significantly younger (P<.0001) at a mean of 19.6 years compared to the mean male age of 20.1 years. Results of the MANOVA were significant, Hotelling's Trace=.829, F(6,1029)=142.20, P<.001. Univariate ANOVAs are presented below. 3.2. Self-esteem A significant main effect for sex was found, F(1,1283)=15.77, P<.001, partial η2=.012. Females demonstrated significantly lower self-esteem than males (mean=1.28 vs. 0.74, respectively; higher scores indicate lower self-esteem). A significant main effect for ethnicity was found, F(1,1283)=15.40, P<.001, partial η2=.012. Black participants demonstrated significantly higher self-esteem than White participants (mean=0.70 vs. 1.02, respectively). Finally, a significant two-way Gender×Ethnicity interaction was found, F(1,1283)=8.86, P=.003, partial η2=.007. White females demonstrated significantly lower self-esteem than Black females and both groups of men (see Fig. 1). Full-size image (3 K) Fig. 1. Mean self-esteem for gender and ethnicity. Figure options 3.3. Body dissatisfaction A significant main effect for sex was found for body dissatisfaction, F(1,1141)=46.739, P<.001, partial η2=.031. Females demonstrated significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction than males (mean=8.93 vs. 4.26, respectively). A significant main effect for ethnicity was found, F(1,1141)=25.968, P<.001, partial η2=.016. White participants demonstrated higher levels of body dissatisfaction than Black participants (mean=6.54 vs. 4.66, respectively). Also, a significant two-way Gender×Ethnicity interaction was found, F(1,1141)=32.708, P<.001, partial η2=.006. White females demonstrated significantly higher levels of body dissatisfaction than Black females and both groups of males (see Fig. 2). Full-size image (3 K) Fig. 2. Mean body dissatisfaction for gender and ethnicity. Figure options 3.4. Drive for thinness A significant main effect for sex was found for drive for thinness, F(1,1170)=67.339, P<.001, partial η2=.046. Females demonstrated significantly higher levels of drive for thinness than males (mean=5.58 vs. 1.41, respectively). A significant main effect for ethnicity was found, F(1,1170)=22.048, P<.001, partial η2=.012. White participants demonstrated higher levels of drive for thinness than Black participants (mean=3.35 vs. 1.97, respectively). Also, a significant two-way Gender×Ethnicity interaction was found, F(1,1170)=30.005, P<.001, partial η2=.009. White females demonstrated significantly higher levels of drive for thinness than Black females and both groups of males (see Fig. 3). Full-size image (3 K) Fig. 3. Mean drive for thinness for gender and ethnicity. Figure options 3.5. Purge Index A significant main effect for sex was found for purging behavior, F(1,1357)=8.75, P=.003, partial η2=.006. Females purged more than males (mean=0.175 vs. −0.123, respectively). A significant two-way Gender×Ethnicity interaction was found, F(1,1357)=4.48, P=.034, partial η2=.003, on the Purge Index. While both groups of males had similar scores for the Purge Index (mean=−0.102 for Blacks and mean=−0.129 for Whites), Black females had slightly less than average scores on the purge index (mean=−0.044), but White females had slightly higher than average scores on the purge index (mean=0.221; Fig. 3). Simple effects analysis show that White females scored significantly higher, t(1073)=5.52, P<.001, than White males (see Fig. 4). Full-size image (3 K) Fig. 4. Purge Index z-scored means for gender and ethnicity. Figure options 3.6. Restriction Index A significant main effect for sex was found for the restriction index, F(1,1357)=17.63, P<.001, partial η2=.013. Females reported restricting behavior more than males (mean=0.201 vs. −0.167, respectively). A significant main effect was found for ethnicity, F(1,1357)=62.133, P<.001, partial η2=.044. White participants reported more restricting behavior than Black participants (mean=0.054 vs. −0.312, respectively). A significant two-way Gender×Ethnicity interaction was found, F(1,1357)=17.75, P<.001, partial η2=.013, on the Restriction Index (Fig. 4). While both groups of Black participants scored similarly (mean=−0.313 for females and mean=−0.312 for males), White males scored somewhat higher with a mean of −0.123, and White females scored the highest with a mean score of 0.310 on the Restriction Index (see Fig. 5). Full-size image (3 K) Fig. 5. Restriction Index z-scored means for gender and ethnicity. Figure options 3.7. Binge Index A significant main effect for ethnicity was found for binge eating, F(1,1357)=6.905, P=.009, partial η2=.005. White athletes reported significantly more binge eating behavior than Black athletes (mean=0.03 vs. −0.152, Fig. 6). Full-size image (4 K) Fig. 6. Binge Index z-scored means for gender and ethnicity.