EATING DISORDERS AMONG HIGH-PERFORMANCE ATHLETES

The purpose of this study was to examine whether athletes in certain s ports display a higher tendency toward eating disorders than athletes in other sports. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) was administered to 1 91 athletes (104 females, 87 males). The athletes were classified into three groups (i.e., sport classes) according to type of sport. Overal l, 10. 6% of the female athletes and 4.6% of the male athletes scored over 30 in the EAT, placing them in the ''anorexic'' range. The preval ence of the results for the female athletes is comparable to other res earch on college university populations, while male athletes appeared to have a higher tendency toward eating disorders than the general pop ulation. Significant differences between sport classes were found for only among the female athletes' groups. Activities that emphasize lean ness and athletes in weight-matched activities were related to higher EAT scores than in nonweight-restricting activities. The study indicat es that different groups of athletes may be at different risks for dev eloping eating disorders.