Title: Social physique anxiety and eating attitudes in female athletic and non-athletic groups
Abstract: One purpose of the present study was to compare Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) scores among four different female groups (physique-salient (PS) athletes—aerobics competitors and divers, n = 63; weight-restricted athletes—rowers, n = 60; non-physique-salient (NPS) athletes—soccer, n = 75; and non-athlete students, n = 53). A second purpose of the study was to examine relations between SPA and disturbed eating attitudes among these four groups. Participants completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale ( Hart, et al, 1989 Hart E.H. Leary M.R. Rejeski W.J. The measurement of social physique anxiety. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 1989; 11: 94-104 Google Scholar ) and the Eating Attitude Test ( Garner and Garfinkel, 1979 Garner D.M. Garfinkel P.E. The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine. 1979; 9: 273-279 Crossref PubMed Scopus (2475) Google Scholar ). With respect to purpose one, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPA (i.e., 9-item single factor model of the SPAS) as the dependent measure, failed to reach significance (F (3, 184) = 1.61, p> .05). With respect to purpose two, significant relations were found between SPA and EAT scores for all four groups. Inferential comparison of the bivariate correlations (Fisher's Z transformations), however, showed no significant differences between groups. In addition, a moderated regression analysis was computed using EAT scores as the dependent measure. The variables were entered in the following order: SPA, followed by dummy vectors for each sport-type category, and then the interaction term between SPA and the dummy vectors. Results showed that there was no significant interaction effect. Thus, these analyses, taken together, suggest that the type of sport activity does not serve to moderate relations between SPA and disordered eating. Implications of the findings are discussed. One purpose of the present study was to compare Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) scores among four different female groups (physique-salient (PS) athletes—aerobics competitors and divers, n = 63; weight-restricted athletes—rowers, n = 60; non-physique-salient (NPS) athletes—soccer, n = 75; and non-athlete students, n = 53). A second purpose of the study was to examine relations between SPA and disturbed eating attitudes among these four groups. Participants completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale ( Hart, et al, 1989 Hart E.H. Leary M.R. Rejeski W.J. The measurement of social physique anxiety. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 1989; 11: 94-104 Google Scholar ) and the Eating Attitude Test ( Garner and Garfinkel, 1979 Garner D.M. Garfinkel P.E. The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine. 1979; 9: 273-279 Crossref PubMed Scopus (2475) Google Scholar ). With respect to purpose one, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPA (i.e., 9-item single factor model of the SPAS) as the dependent measure, failed to reach significance (F (3, 184) = 1.61, p> .05). With respect to purpose two, significant relations were found between SPA and EAT scores for all four groups. Inferential comparison of the bivariate correlations (Fisher's Z transformations), however, showed no significant differences between groups. In addition, a moderated regression analysis was computed using EAT scores as the dependent measure. The variables were entered in the following order: SPA, followed by dummy vectors for each sport-type category, and then the interaction term between SPA and the dummy vectors. Results showed that there was no significant interaction effect. Thus, these analyses, taken together, suggest that the type of sport activity does not serve to moderate relations between SPA and disordered eating. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Publication Year: 2001
Publication Date: 2001-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 41
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