Eating Disorder Symptoms in Female Sports: Comparison of Rhythmic Gymnasts and Female Handball Players

Josipa Radas, Jasmina Parlov, Rebeka Stojković

University of Zagreb Faculty of Kinesiology

Digitalne obrazovne tehnologije

Preliminary communication

Abstract

Previous research shows that female athletes are particularly at risk of eating disorders and control their weight more in aesthetic than non-aesthetic sports. The aim of this research was to determine eating disorders in rhythmic gymnastics using the EAT-26 test. A group of female handball players was also included in the research in order to compare results from aesthetic and non-aesthetic sports. Rhythmic gymnastics is a conventional sport in which the exercise is performed on the ground with a screw, hoop, ball, cones and tape accompanied by music. The sample of respondents consisted of rhythmic players (N=40) and handball players (N=40) aged 14-17. The EAT-26 contains 26 items divided into three levels ('dieting', 'bulimia and preoccupation with food', 'oral control') and was used to test the presence of eating disorder symptoms. The results of the Mann Whitney U test showed that there are significant differences between the two groups of subjects in the total score of EAT-26. A comparison of attitudes about nutrition, age and body mass index (BMI) revealed that rhythmic players control their body weight and diet significantly more than handball players.

Key words

body mass index; EAT-26; female athletes; leann sport;  rhythmic gymnastics

The role of digital technology in teacher’s professional development

Abstract

Keywords