Athletes and Eating Disorders

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at the seriousness of the problem of eating disorders among young female athletes and some possible explanations for why these young women succumb to eating disorders that end their athletic careers or even their lives. The paper argues that the sporting society needs to adjust its focus when it comes to what measures will allow for athletic success. The paper discusses the importance of young women being prepared to challenge unrealistic body type images in the popular media and listen to their bodies and to the medical evidence, rather than to a coach.

From the Paper:

"To start with, female athletes are more likely than male athletes to use induced vomiting as a means of losing weight. In a related vein, female athletes looking to "shed a few pounds" are perceptibly more likely then their male counterparts to use laxatives as a chief means of doing so. The troubling use of laxatives is often accompanied by the even more troubling misuse of diet pills by female athletes. Lastly, an exhaustive study undertaken by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Study reveals that, while young male athletes have a "low" (but acceptable) boy fat count over-all, female athletes register "abnormally low" in the body fat development (Johnson et al, 1999). Findings such as this one are deeply unsettling insofar as young men and women - for the most part - play the same sports today yet women seem to desire getting smaller much more so than their young male counterparts."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, Kelli. (2001). Losing to win. Sports Illustrated for Women, 3(3): 88-95.
• Johnson, Craig, Powers, Pauline S., and Dick, Randy. (1999). Athletes and eating disorders: the National Collegiate Athletic Association Study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 26(2): 179-188.
• Ryan, J. (1995). Little girls in pretty boxes: The making and breaking of elite gymnasts and figure skaters. New York: Doubleday.
• Thompson, R.A., and Sherman, R.T. (1993). Helping athletes with eating disorders. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

More papers on Athletes and Eating Disorders:

• Essay # 67507 : "Celebrities and Eating Disorders"
• Essay # 65487 : "Celebrities and Eating Disorders"
• Essay # 34871 : "Eating Disorders in Professional Sports"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: