Study finds few College Athletes with Eating Disorders

A study of 680 student athletes at Ohio State University found that very few had diagnosable eating disorders, but that many had some symptoms of eating disorders. 59 percent of the female athletes surveyed thought that their bodies were too fat, for example, compared to 20 percent of the male athletes. These numbers are especially surprising since student athletes are in better physical condition (and less likely to be overweight) than most college students.

Jennifer Carter, a sports psychologist at Ohio State presented the results of the study at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in August, 2002. Most studies that look at the incidence of disorders in a population are conducted anonymously. Carter's study asked for identifying information from participants in order to be able to assist students who admitted serious eating problems. While this may have made clinical sense, it makes the results difficult to interpret. Anonymous surveys are conducted that way to encourage honesty. It is likely that some students with serious symptoms of eating disorders would not report these symptoms on this survey. Binge eating and purging are usually private behaviors, and people who engage in them may feel shame about them.

The results of this survey can only be fairly compared with other surveys that also asked for identifying information. Carter summarized the study by stating that "in general, eating disorders among college athletes are no more prevalent - and may be slightly less prevalent - than among college students at large." I'm less confident of this conclusion. I'm not aware of similar large scale studies that also asked for identifying information (and only such studies can truly be used for comparison).

The study still identified some interesting patterns. A summary:

• 15% of all student athletes (and 20% of female student athletes) reported having some behaviors associated with an eating disorder (such as binge-eating and purging) but not severe enough to be considered true disorders.
• 38% of the athletes thought that parts of their body were too fat. That included 59% of women surveyed and 20 % of men.
• Female student athletes reported average weights of 143 pounds, while male athletes reported average weights of 192 pounds.
• Women reported wanting to lose an average of 7 pounds, while men reported wanting to gain 2 pounds.
• Women athletes reported more behaviors associated with eating disorders than did male athletes.
• 14.2 percent of women reported they dieted strictly to maintain or lose weight, compared to 5.8 percent of men.

More female than male athletes reported binge eating, fasting, or use of appetite control pills. Clearly this study adds to the data that suggest that college women, including athletes, are a population at risk for eating disorders.

Last Updates 12/3/05

Reference: Carter, Jennifer. Paper presented at American Psychological Association Convention, August 2002.