Anti-Dieting Advice From Teammates: A Pilot Study of the Experience of Female Collegiate Cross Country Runners

Abstract

Disordered eating behaviors and restrictive dieting can have negative health consequences for female athletes. Teammates can play an important role in primary and secondary prevention of these unhealthy eating practices through verbal and non-verbal communication about what behaviors are normative and desirable. The present study tested two tested hypotheses related to the way anti-dieting advice from teammates is distributed: (a) that there are significant between-team differences in the level of anti-dieting advice received, and (b) that the frequency of anti-dieting advice from teammates is positively associated with the severity of an individual’s eating disorder symptomatology and negatively associated with their body mass index (BMI). Participants were female members (n = 89) of six U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I women’s cross country teams. Findings revealed significant between-team differences in the frequency of anti-dieting advice, controlling for team levels of disordered eating. Eating pathology and BMI were positively associated with anti-dieting advice received. Implications for the design of interventions to encourage effective within-team communication for promoting teammate health are discussed.