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Perfectionism, body satisfaction and dieting in athletes: the role of gender and sport type
Given that athletes are often more likely to develop disordered eating due to their perfectionistic tendencies, this 2019 study investigated the degree to which perfectionism and body satisfaction alone contribute to athletes’ dietary behaviors. There were 280 participants recruited by this study, including 192 male and 99 female athletes. The participants were tested on eating attitudes, perfectionism, and body image satisfaction. Overall, there were no marked differences in dietary behaviors between sport types and genders. But body satisfaction was found to be the only significant predictor of dieting among female athletes. Incidentally, body satisfaction was also found to mediate the relationship between perfectionism and dieting. These results highlight that body satisfaction plays a big role in disordered eating development among female athletes. [NPID: body satisfaction, disordered eating, sports, athletes, dieting, perfectionism, body image]
Year: 2019
