‘Can you move your fat ass off the baseline?’ Exploring the sport experiences of adolescent girls with body image concerns

ABSTRACT

Body-related self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt, envy, and embarrassment are highly prevalent in sport contexts and are associated with poor sport experiences and lower participation among adolescent girls. However, little is known about how body self-consciousness impacts quality sport among adolescent girls. The current study aimed to explore the sport experiences of girls with high body self-consciousness. Eleven adolescent girls (M_age = 14.5 years) with an average of six years of experience in sport were purposefully sampled and participated in semi-structured interviews. Using a thematic analysis, six themes were identified: (i) navigating the culture of ‘body talk’, (ii) managing appearance- and fitness-related social comparisons, (iii) tension between appearance and sport competence evaluations, (iv) evaluation and competition in the sport culture, (v) compensatory behaviours (i.e. exercise) and restrictive eating to manage body self-consciousness, and (vi) duality of the body within and outside of sport. Collectively, the findings highlight the need to improve social practices in sport among girls in an effort to enhance adolescent girls’ sport experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Body image
• self-conscious emotions
• adolescent girls
• sport
• qualitative interviews

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a joint research grant provided to the last author by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Sport Canada Research Council (Grant #: 862-2013-0005). This manuscript was prepared while MFV was supported by a doctoral scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. CMS currently holds a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Physical Activity and Mental Health. Funding sources were not involved in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation, or the preparation of the manuscript for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The BASES (Castonguay et al. 2014) and BSE-FIT (Castonguay et al. 2016) as well as the additional items for embarrassment and envy consisted of eight items for each body-related self-conscious emotion (four appearance items and four fitness items per emotion). The items were prefixed by ‘generally, I have felt … ’ and were measured on a 5-point Likert-type response format: 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = frequently, and 5 = always. At baseline, the internal consistency for the emotion subscales ranged from α =.76-.90.

2. The pilot participant, Emma (pseudonym), identified as 15 years of age, Caucasian, and reported being engaged in sport for seven years. She engaged in synchronised swimming, soccer, volleyball, and rugby, and was a current competitive athlete. Emma self-identified as experiencing high body self-consciousness and her accounts of sport aligned with the themes generated for the eleven girls. For example, Emma recounted body talk in synchronised swimming that was directed at those who she perceived had eating disorders. Emma also expressed appearance-based upward social comparisons that contributed to negative weight self-perceptions and sport disengagement. In addition, underlying much of her interview, negative self-evaluation influenced Emma’s perceptions of sport competence. Emma also described that in judgment-based sports (e.g. synchronised swimming), meeting sport-specific body ideals were necessary to reach advanced levels of the sport. Further, Emma’s body-self consciousness contributed to compensatory behaviours and restrictive eating in an attempt to achieve the sport-specific body ideal. Finally, Emma noted that girls at school worried less about their weight than girls in sport, which positively impacted her own body perceptions outside of sport. Emma’s rich detailed account of her sport experiences underline the need for more research with girls in competitive sport who report high body self-consciousness.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a joint Sport Canada Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant [862-2013-0005].

Notes on contributors

Madison F. Vani

Madison F. Vani is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Exercise Sciences in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests include body image, emotion, and physical activity, primarily among women and girls.

Eva Pila

Eva Pila is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology at Western University (London, Ontario, Canada). Her research interests center around body image and health behaviour, focusing predominantly on influences in women’s health.

Melissa deJonge

Melissa deJonge is a MSc student in Exercise Sciences in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto. Her research interests broadly include exercise and health psychology and body image within adolescent sport participation.

Shauna Solomon-Krakus

Shauna Solomon-Krakus is a doctoral student in the department of Psychological Clinical Science at the University of Toronto Scarborough. Her research aims to better understand the roles of perfectionism and body-related self-conscious emotions for disordered eating and eating disorders.

Catherine M. Sabiston

Catherine M. Sabiston is a Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto and holds a Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity and Mental Health. She has published widely in areas of physical activity motivation and behaviour, emotion, mental health, and body image.