Prevalence of Eating Disorders among College Female Cheerleaders and Non-Athletes

Abstract

Introduction
Eating disorders continue to be a concern due to their impact on health and survival. Athletes who are in sports that require a low body weight, or a lean body shape appear to be at greater risk. This includes males and females; however, females are typically found to be at higher-risk.
Purpose
To measure symptoms of eating disorders that might be present in female undergraduate students from specific disciplines.
Methods
Participants were recruited from the Cheer Team (n=27), the Department of Kinesiology (n=29), and the Department of Psychology (n=30). A total of 86 participants completed the eating disorder inventory-2 (EDI-2). They were all similar in age (20.6±0.21 yrs) and body mass index (body mass index (BMI); 22.7±0.49). Participants reported to a classroom where they were allowed as much time as needed to complete the 91 questions.
Results
Contrary to predictions, the Cheer Team sample (15%) reported equivalent levels of symptoms that classified them as high risk for an eating disorder as compared with the Psychology (17%) and Kinesiology (10%) control groups. However, the most prevalent symptoms were the use of diet pills, binging, and purging, and Cheer Team members who engaged in binging and purging behaviour’s reported more eating disorder symptoms than did participants in the Psychology and Kinesiology control groups who also engaged in binging or purging.
Discussion
These results suggest that the members of the Cheer Team were at much less risk than is usually seen with female athletes (33%). However, as this study relied on the willingness of participants to volunteer, it is often the case that those with eating disorders choose not to volunteer or hide their symptoms. Eating disorders continue to be a concern and targeting subthreshold symptoms would be important for early intervention.