Abstract

The Double Dose Message of Slimness: Eating Attitudes and Behaviors in Female Adolescent Athletes and Non-Athletes

This study examined the level of disordered eating among three groups of female adolescents: body-leanness athletes, non body-leanness athletes, and non-athletes who participated in other equally competitive activities. While the groups did not differ on measures of self-esteem, perfectionism, or body dissatisfaction, body-leanness athletes reported higher levels of disordered eating than non body-leanness athletes and non-athletes. The body-leanness athletes internalized society’s slimness ideal to a greater extent, reported smaller ideal body figures, and smaller ideal figures for their sport. Their elevated slimness ideal internalization score, which combines sport-specific and sociocultural ideals and is associated with higher levels of disordered eating, suggests that these athletes might be at greater risk for the development of eating disorders due to their exposure to the "double dose message of slimness," where the emphasis on slimness in body-leanness sports may enhance pre-existing cultural pressures to be thin.