Disordered eating among a multi-racial/ethnic sample of female high-school athletes.

Full Abstract

PURPOSE:
To determine the prevalence of disordered eating (DE) attitudes and behaviors in a multi-racial/ethnic sample of female high-school athletes.

METHODS:
The Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) was administered to 453 suburban female high-school athletes (277 Caucasian, 103 Latina, and 73 African American; aged 15.7 +/- 1.2 years) during their competitive season.

RESULTS:
The prevalence of DE in the total sample was 19.6%; among the three ethnic groups, prevalence estimates were 19.2%, 18.4%, and 23.3% for African Americans, Caucasians, and Latinas, respectively. The prevalence estimates of binge eating (12.6%) and vomiting (7.8%) were significantly higher in Latinas as compared to African Americans (5.5%, 1.4%) and Caucasians (5.4%, 2.2%; chi2 p < .05). The prevalence of diuretic and laxative use was low among all athletes (< 3%), with no differences by ethnicity (p > .05). After adjusting for body mass index (BMI) and sport, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with Bonferroni post-hoc pair-wise comparisons indicated that Caucasian and Latina athletes scored higher than African Americans on all EDE-Q subscales except eating restraint, which was higher only in Caucasians compared to African Americans (p = .001-.046).

CONCLUSIONS:
Caucasian and Latina female high-school athletes may be at greater risk for eating disorders than their African American peers. Furthermore, Latina athletes may be particularly at risk for binge-eating disorder. Culturally-sensitive behavioral interventions targeted specifically for high-school athletes are needed to reduce the risk of eating disorders and associated long-term health consequences in this population.

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Author information

Author/s: Pernick, Yael (Y); Nichols, Jeanne F (JF); Rauh, Mitchell J (MJ); Kern, Mark (M); Ji, Ming (M); Lawson, Mandra J (MJ); Wilfley, Denise (D);

Affiliation: Department of Exercise & Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182-7251, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine (J Adolesc Health), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jun; vol 38 (issue 6) : pp 689-95

Dates: Created 2006/05/29; Completed 2006/06/12; Revised 2007/12/05;

PMID: 16730597, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior
African Americans - psychology
Attitude to Health
Body Mass Index
Eating Disorders - epidemiology; ethnology

Female
Hispanic Americans - psychology
Humans
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Sports

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