Eating disorder indices and athletes: An integration

Research. shows inconclusive results pertaining to the comparison of eating disorder indices between athletes and nonathletes and among different subg roups of athletes. The purpose of this study was to meta-analytically revie w the literature on (a) bulimia nervosa indices, (b) anorexia nervosa indic es, and (c) drive for thinness (a cardinal feature of both anorexia and bul imia) in male and female athletes. Results of 92 studies with 560 effect si zes (ES) revealed small ESs (range: -.01 to .30) in relation to group membe rship characteristics. Results for female athletes revealed small ESs for b ulimia and anorexia indices, suggesting that female athletes self-reported more bulimic and anorexic symptomatology than control groups; nonsignifican t group differences were evidenced far drive for thinness. Results for male athletes revealed small ESs on all three indices, suggesting that male ath letes self-reported more eating disorder symptomatology than control groups . Moderator variables that might contribute to understanding the results ar e examined, and future research directions are presented.