Athletes and eating disorders - no obvious connection

CrossCurrents

While many studies demonstrate an increased vulnerability to problematic exercise among professional athletes compared with the general population, other studies show that athletes are less likely to develop compulsive or addictive patterns. Caroline Davis, a psychology professor at York University, says that both can be proven, and that results depend on how “athlete” is defined. Her 1994 study, published in Psychological Medicine, showed that more than half of the eating disordered participants were competitive athletes or dancers. However, using a more conservative definition of “athlete” – only those who were competitive at the national or international levels (or who were professional dancers) – Davis’ 2001 study in Sport and Exercise Psychology found that around 25 per cent of hospitalized individuals were athletes. Davis says that very possibly, according to much looser definitions of “athlete,” rates of eating disorders may actually be lower than among the general population, which are estimated to be around three per cent.