Comparative Study of Female Collegiate Athletes to Nonathletes on Risk of Developing Eating Disorders

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to determine how collegiate female athletes may differ to collegiate female nonathletes in the tendency toward developing eating disorders. Participants were 30 female collegiate athletes and 30 female collegiate nonathletes who attended the same NCAA Division I university. The Eating Disorder Inventory was used to identify individuals at risk of developing an eating disorder. A Mann-Whitney U test revealed that a significant difference existed in maturity fears, one of the eight subscales. Nonathletes scored significantly higher on the maturity fear subscale, thus, expressing a greater desire to retreat to the security of one's childhood. This study points toward the need to continue such research utilizing a much larger sample and to conduct longitudinal investigations tracking college females and female athletes over an extended period of time.