Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Eating Disorders in Sport

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sport and Mental Health

  • 346 Accesses

Abstract

Eating disorders and disordered eating are well-established medical and psychiatric conditions in athletics. Historically, the eating disorder focus has been primarily upon white cisgender female athletes, though emerging research has also described an increased prevalence of eating disorders in white cisgender male athletes. Additional work is ongoing regarding the unique challenges facing BIPOC and transgender/gender nonconforming athletes with eating disorders. Eating disorders and subclinical disordered eating behavior often “hide in plain sight” and may elude detection. As providers in sport, there is a need for increased proficiency at recognizing signs of disordered eating, awareness of our assumptions about eating disorders, vigilance for common co-morbidities, and prompt diagnosis of eating disorders and variants when appropriate. This chapter describes features of eating disorders in sports, highlights common comorbidities and risk factors for the development of eating disorders, and emphasizes the importance of an interdisciplinary approach for management and treatment of the afflicted individual.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Eichstadt M, Luzier J, Cho D, Weisenmuller C. Eating disorders in male athletes. Sports Health. 2020;12(4):327–33.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Reardon CL, Hainline B, Aron CM, et al. Mental health in elite athletes: International Olympic Committee consensus statement. In British Journal of Sports Medicine. BMJ Publishing Group. 2019;53(11):667–99. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100715.

  3. Joy E, Kussman A, Nattiv A. Update on eating disorders in athletes: A comprehensive narrative review with a focus on clinical assessment and management. Br J Sports Med. 2016;50(3):154–62. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2015-095735. PMID: 26782763.

  4. Currie A. Sport and eating disorders—understanding and managing the risks. Asian J Sports Med. 2010;1(2):63–8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Bennett K. Eating disorders in athletes. In Eating disorders in special populations. CRC Press; 2017, p. 165–182.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Thompson RA, Trattner Sherman R. Eating disorders in sport. 1st ed. Routledge; 2010.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Torstveit MK, Sundgot-Borgen J. Disordered eating and eating disorders in female athletes. In: Mountjoy M, editor. The female athlete. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc; 2015. p. 42–55.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Reel J, Conviser J, Tierney A. Body image and disordered eating among athletes. In: Marks, Wolinin, Shortway, editors. The Routlege handbook of clinical sports psychology. Routledge; 2021. p. 77–94.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Nieuwoudt JE, Zhou S, Coutts RA. Booker, ray symptoms of muscle Dysmorphia, body dysmorphic disorder, and eating disorders in a nonclinical population of adult male weightlifters in Australia. J Strength Cond Res. 2015;29(5):1406–14.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kacie LP, Holben DH, Valliant M, Hyun-Woo (David) J. Food insecurity is associated with disordered eating behaviors in NCAA division 1 male collegiate athletes. J Am Coll Heal. 2020;68(2):105–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Thompson A, Petrie T, Anderson C. Eating disorders and weight control behaviors change over a collegiate sport season. J Sci Med Sport. 2017;20(9):808–13.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Chapa D, Hagan KE, Forbush KT, et al. The athletes’ relationships with training scale (ART): a self-report measure of unhealthy training behaviors associated with eating disorders. Int J Eat Disord. 2018;51:1080–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Burke LM, Close GL, Lundy B, Mooses M, Morton JP, Tenforde AS. Relative energy deficiency in sport in male athletes: a commentary on its presentation among selected groups of male athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2018;28(4):364–74.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Baum A. Eating disorders in the male athlete. Sports Med. 2006;36:1–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Weltzin T, Cornella-Carlson T, Fitzpatrick M, Kennington B, Bean P, Jefferies C. Treatment issues and outcomes for males with eating disorders. Eat Disord. 2012;20(5):444–59.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. American Psychiatric Association (APA). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with eating disorders. 3rd ed; 2006. http://psychiatryonline.org/pdfaccess.ashx?ResourceID=243187&PDFSource=6

    Google Scholar 

  17. Geilhufe B, Tripp O, Silverstein S, Birchfield L, Raimondo M. Gender-affirmative eating disorder care: clinical considerations for transgender and gender expansive children and youth. Pediatr Ann. 2021;50(9):e371–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Gordon AR, Moore LB, Guss C. Eating disorders among transgender and gender non-binary people. In: Nagata JM, Brown TA, Murray SB, Lavender JM, editors. Eating disorders in boys and men. Cham: Springer; 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67127-3_18.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Diemer EW, White Hughto JM, Gordon AR, Guss C, Austin SB, Reisner SL. Beyond the binary: differences in eating disorder prevalence by gender identity in a transgender sample. Transgend Health. 2018;3(1):17–23. Published 2018 Jan 1. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2017.0043.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Parker LL, Harriger JA. Eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors in the LGBT population: a review of the literature. J Eat Disord. 2020;8:51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-020-00327-y.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Birnbaum A, Karamitopoulos M, Carter CW. Musculoskeletal health considerations for the transgender athlete. Physician and Sportsmedicine, 2022.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Abbey EL, Brown M, Karpinski C. Prevalence of food insecurity in the general college population and student-athletes: a review of the literature. Curr Nutr Rep. 2022;

    Google Scholar 

  23. Morgan JF, Reid F, Hubert T. West J Med. 2000;172(3):164–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Herman BK. Prim care companion CNS Disord. 2016;18:2. https://doi.org/10.4088/PCC.15m01896.

  25. Mountjoy M, Sundgot-Borgen J, Burke L, et al. The IOC consensus statement: beyond the female athlete triad—relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S). Br J Sports Med. 2014;48:491–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Mountjoy M, Sundgot-Borgen JK, Burke LM, et al. IOC consensus statement on relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S): 2018 update. Br J Sports Med. 2018;52:687–97.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. De Souza MJ, Koltun KJ, Williams NI. The role of energy availability in reproductive function in the female athlete triad and extension of its effects to men: an initial working model of a similar syndrome in male athletes. Sports Med. 2019;49(Suppl 2):125–37.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Dufresne L, Bussières EL, Bédard A, Gingras N, Blanchette-Sarrasin A, Bégin C. Personality traits in adolescents with eating disorder: A meta-analytic review. Int J Eat Disord. 2020;53(2):157–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.23183. Epub 2019 Oct 21. PMID: 31633223.

  29. Aron CM, Harvey S, Hainline B, Hitchcock ME, Reardon CL. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review. Br J Sports Med. 2019;53(12):779–84. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100695. Epub 2019 Apr 25. PMID: 31023859.

  30. Aron CM. Athletic identity: A house of mirrors. In Examining Social Identities and Diversity Issues in Group Therapy: Knocking at the Boundaries. 2020. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429022364-7.

  31. McArdle S, Meade M, Burrows E. Service providers' attitudes toward athletes with eating disorders. Clin J Sport Med. 2018;28(1):51–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Green H. Team splitting and the ‘borderline personality’: a relational reframe. Psychoanal Psychother. 2018;32(3):249–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. NCAA Sports Science Institute. Mental Health Best Practices. 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Rao N. Step up your game. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster; 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Chang C, Putukian M, Aerni G, et al. Mental health issues and psychological factors in athletes: detection, management, effect on performance and prevention: American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement-Executive Summary (2020). Br J Sports Med. 2020;54(4):216–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Further Readings

  • de Bruin AK, Oudejans RR. Athletes’ body talk: the role of contextual body image in eating disorders as seen through the eyes of elite women athletes. J Clin Sport Psychol. 2018;12(4):675–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karrer Y, Halioua R, Mötteli S, Iff S, Seifritz E, Jäger M, Claussen MC. Disordered eating and eating disorders in male elite athletes: a scoping review. BMJ Open Sport Exercise Med. 2020;6(1):e000801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mancine R, Kennedy S, Stephan P, Ley A. Disordered eating and eating disorders in adolescent athletes. Spartan Med Res J. 2020;4(2)

    Google Scholar 

  • Milano W, Milano L, Capasso A. Eating disorders in athletes: from risk management to therapy. Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders-Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets-Immune Endocrine & Metabolic Disorders). 2020;20(1):2–14.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Services Ascend Consultation in Healthcare, Chicago, IL, USA

    Cindy Miller Aron

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Cindy Miller Aron

  3. Consult Liason Psychiatry Iris Telehealth, Austin, TX, USA

    Sydney LeFay

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences Institute, Portland, OR, USA

    Sydney LeFay

  5. San Diego Ballet Company Physician, San Diego, CA, USA

    Rebeccah R. Rodriguez

Authors
  1. Cindy Miller Aron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sydney LeFay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rebeccah R. Rodriguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Health and Sport, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, USA

    David Baron

  2. Psychiatrie, Meduniwien AKH, Wien, Austria

    Thomas Wenzel

  3. Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Charitè - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Andreas Ströhle

  4. Department of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA

    Todd Stull

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Aron, C.M., LeFay, S., Rodriguez, R.R. (2023). Eating Disorders in Sport. In: Baron, D., Wenzel, T., Ströhle, A., Stull, T. (eds) Sport and Mental Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36864-6_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36864-6_16

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-36863-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-36864-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation