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Cited by 26Eating Disorders and BehaviorsNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorMotivation and Self-Concept in Sports

Weight pressures and eating disorder symptoms among adolescent female gymnasts of different performance levels in Greece

Open access
Kontele, Ioanna, Vassilakou, Tonia, Donti, Olyvia·2022·Children
DOI 10.3390/children9020254PMC PMC8870309
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Abstract

This study examined the weight pressures within the gymnastics environment and explored associations between these pressures and eating disorder (ED) symptoms in adolescent female gymnasts. One hundred and forty-seven competitive gymnasts and 122 recreational-level gymnasts (11–17 years old) completed the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), the Weight-Pressures in Sport-Females (WPS-F), the Social Desirability Scale (SDS) and provided information on their training. It was found that 16.3% of competitive gymnasts and 7.4% of non-competitive gymnasts scored ≥20 in EAT-26, indicating disordered eating behavior. Competitive gymnasts scored higher than non-competitive in the total score of EAT-26 (p = 0.027), as well as in the total score of WPS-F, the sport and coaches weight pressures sub-scale and the appearance and performance weight pressures sub-scale (p < 0.001). Multiple regression analyses indicated that sport and coaches weight pressures, appearance and performance weight pressures and body mass index accounted for 30.3% of the variance of EAT-26 in competitive gymnasts, while the appearance and performance weight pressures sub-scale accounted for 16.3% of the variance of EAT-26 in non-competitive gymnasts. Sport and coaches weight pressures are associated with ED in competitive gymnasts, while body appearance and performance demands correlate with ED in female gymnasts irrespective of competitive level.

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  • Many sports have engrained cultures where coaches and members of the athlete health and performance team exert subtle to extreme pressure on athletes to regulate body weight and composition.

    “Many sports have engrained cultures where coaches and members of the athlete health and performance team exert subtle to extreme pressure on athletes to regulate body weight and composition.131 134”

    From 2023 international olympic committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) (2023) · cites this paper as [131]

    The Introduction describes weight and shape pressures from coaches, teammates, and judges, including comments, weigh-ins, and expectations about performance; it also mentions similar pressures in several sports. The paper does not identify members of athlete health and performance teams as exerting those pressures, and its evidence does not establish that such cultures are ingrained across many sports. Its Conclusions instead describe dietitians and mental-health experts as sources of support. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Athletes may experience internal and/or external pressure to attain an 'athletic look' (aesthetic), potentially leading to body dissatisfaction and LEA, and then to symptoms of REDs, DE behaviours or EDs.

    “Athletes may experience internal and/or external pressure to attain an 'athletic look' (aesthetic), potentially leading to body dissatisfaction and LEA, and then to symptoms of REDs, DE behaviours or EDs.76 131”

    From 2023 international olympic committee's (IOC) consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs) (2023) · cites this paper as [131]

    The Discussion (§4.3) links appearance and performance weight pressures in female gymnasts to body dissatisfaction and eating-disorder symptoms. The Introduction (§1) says unhealthy weight-control practices may put gymnasts at risk of both low energy availability (LEA) and disordered eating or eating disorders, but does not establish the claimed sequence from LEA to those symptoms; it does not address REDs. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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3 of the 81 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [66]Chaikali P. Vassilakou Τ. Comparison of Eating Habits and Physical Characteristics of Adolescent Dancers and Peers of the General Population Proceedings of the 9th Panhellenic Conference on Public Health and Health Services Athens, Greece 9 March 2012 72
  2. [71]Kontele I. Vassilakou T. Psychountaki M. Donti O. Psychometric Characteristics of the Greek Version of Weight Pressures in Sport-Females (WPS-F) Questionnaire Proceedings of the 6th Congress of Sport Science Athens, Greece 26–28 March 2021 140

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Authors
Kontele, I., Vassilakou, T., & Donti, O.
Affiliations
  • Department of Public Health Policy, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, 196 Alexandras Avenue, 11521 Athens, Greece
  • University of West Attica (GR)
  • School of Physical Education and Sport Science, National Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece
ORCID
Venue
Children
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2022-02-14
Volume
9
Issue
2
Pages
254
ISSN
2227-9067 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/children9020254
PMC
PMC8870309
OpenAlex
W4213044134
Cited by
26
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 1
FWCI
5.25
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Children (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports
Keywords
eating disorder symptoms, disordered eating, appearance pressure, performance pressure, coach pressure, body mass index, Eating Attitudes Test

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