Reducing the Risk of Disordered Eating Among Female Athletes: A Test of Alternative Interventions

Abstract

Eating disorders are a major psychological issue for female collegiate athletes and research directed at reducing their risk has been scant. In this study, the effectiveness of a cognitive-dissonance based intervention was compared to two alternatives—a psychoeducationally based healthy weight and a wait-list control—to determine their relative effectiveness in reducing body dissatisfaction, negative affect, dietary restriction, and internalization of the sociocultural ideal. Twenty-nine Division I female collegiate athletes who were body dissatisfied were matched and then randomly assigned to condition. For each standardized intervention, athletes met once per week for 1 hour; the interventions occurred over a 3 week period. The three groups were comparable on the Time 1 (baseline) measures and demographics, with the exception of age and importance of being physically fit. Possibly due to low power, the Time by Group interaction for each measure was not statistically significant, indicating no treatment effects. However, exploratory post-hoc analyses suggested that the cognitive-dissonance intervention provided some positive effects, particularly with respect to decreases in sadness/depression and in internalization of a physically fit and in-shape body type, and increases in body satisfaction. Overall, these findings suggest that a cognitive-dissonance based intervention may be useful, but will need to be redesigned further to address important issues and factors that are unique to female athletes and the sport environment.

Notes

The standardized manuals for the two interventions are available from the first author.