Body Weight Satisfaction, Comments, Nutrition and Injury Risk in 489 Adolescent Elite Athletes
Int J Sports Med DOI: 10.1055/a-2160-1615Exposure to critical body weight comments in youth athletes could lead to
decreased self-esteem, affect body image, and increase the risk of eating
disorders and cause depressive symptoms. The aim was to explore differences
between sex, body mass index, sports type, with regards to body weight
satisfaction, exposure to critical body weight comments from their coach and
nutrition status in adolescent elite athletes. A questionnaire about body
weight, critical body weight comments and nutrition was distributed to 489
adolescent elite athletes and injury prevalence was monitored across 20 weeks.
The results showed that almost one in four athletes (n=116, 24%)
was not satisfied with their weight and 12% (n=59) had received
critical body weight comments from their coach. Of the athletes who were
unsatisfied with their body weight (n=116), 47% wanted to lose
weight (n=55). A significant (p<0.05) higher proportion of ice
hockey players and swimmers used nutritional supplements, were unsatisfied with
their body weight, and were more exposed to critical body weight comments
compared to athletes from other sports. Adolescent elite athletes as young as
15–16 years old are exposed to critical body weight comments from their
coach and experience challenges with body weight sat...
Source: International Journal of Sports Medicine - Category: Sports Medicine Authors: Frid én, Cecilia Ekenros, Linda Hirschberg, Angelica Lind én von Rosen, Philip Tags: Orthopedics & Biomechanics Source Type: research
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