Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, Alexithymia, and Social Phobia Are Associated With Disordered Eating in Male and Female Undergraduate Athletes

Abstract

Investigations of disordered eating in the athlete population tend to focus on females and the influence of sport level. This leaves unanswered whether, and how, team interdependence (i.e., whether the competition is engaged with one person or as a team) may differentially impact male athletes. In the present study, we recruited a sample of non-athletes, individual athletes, and team athletes and examined the interaction of gender and teammate interdependence on established psychosocial risk factors for disordered eating, including social phobia, alexithymia, and emotion regulation. Although we identified a significant main effect of gender, there was no main effect of team type, nor was there a significant interaction of gender and team type. Using descriptive discriminant analysis, these variables significantly discriminated between genders. Women were defined by higher scores than men on drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, and emotion recognition and men were defined by relatively higher scores on emotion dysregulation and binge eating. When we combined all athletes and compared them with non-athletes, a significant interaction of gender and athlete status emerged such that female athletes, compared to male athletes and women nonathletes, were defined by higher scores on drive for thinness, emotion dysregulation, and binge eating. Conversely, male athletes, compared to female athletes, were defined by greater difficulty identifying feelings and body dissatisfaction. Non-athletes were not well defined by the discriminant function. These results highlight that emotional processes convey risk of eating disorders in men and women, particularly in athletes, and these risk factors are not uniform.

Physical Activity as a Treatment for Social Anxiety in Clinical and Non-clinical Populations: A Systematic Review and Three Meta-Analyses for Different Study Designs

“…Further limitations are that there was a lack of uniformity in the measuring instruments, especially for PA assessment. For the RCTs, assessment tools varied from standardized questionnaires (Herring et al, 2014;Ashdown-Franks et al, 2017;Ren and Li, 2020) and self-constructed questionnaires to single items (Atalay and Gençöz, 2008;Dimech and Seiler, 2010;Rocha et al, 2014;Üstün and Yapici, 2019;Benau et al, 2020), or PA was divided into different categories, time, and modes of exercise (Goodwin, 2003;Dong et al, 2018;Koç and Dündar, 2018;Kim et al, 2020). For the longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, the instruments that were used for PA assessment also ranged from one-item assessments to standardized questionnaires.…”

“…In five studies (Atalay and Gençöz, 2008;Dimech and Seiler, 2010;Rocha et al, 2014;Üstün and Yapici, 2019;Benau et al, 2020), PA was assessed through self-constructed questionnaires or questions, such as "How often do you get physical exerciseeither on your job or in recreational activity?" In four studies (Goodwin, 2003;Dong et al, 2018;Koç and Dündar, 2018; Kim (Dishman and Steinhardt, 1988); CIDI, the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WHO, 1990); CL, clinical (Connor et al, 2000); IPAQ, The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (Craig et al, 2003); K-MPAI, Kenny MPA Inventory Questionnaire (Rocha et al, 2011); LSAS-SR, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self-Report (Liebowitz et al, 1985;Fresco et al, 2001); MINI-KID, Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (Sheehan et al, 2010); N, sample size; NA, not applicable; NCL, non-clinical; NR, not reported; PA, physical activity; PARS-3, Physical Activity Rating Scale (Liang, 1994); PDSQ, the Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire (Zimmerman et al, 1999); SA, social anxiety; SAS, The Social Anxiety Scale (Özbay and Palanci, 2001); SASC, Social Anxiety Scale for Children (La Greca et al, 1988), originally adapted from the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised (La Greca and Stone, 1993); SD, standard deviation; SPAIK, The German Version (SPAIK) of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C;…”

“…Additionally, we conducted a meta-analysis on the effects of team sports vs. individual sports on SA. Four studies could be included into this analysis (Ashdown-Franks et al, 2017;Koç and Dündar, 2018;Üstün and Yapici, 2019;Benau et al, 2020) Overall, a small negative association between SA and the amount of regular PA was found, indicating that higher levels of PA were associated with lower SA. Furthermore, the results indicate that there are moderators responsible for the significant outcome between PA and SA.…”

Marks in English and Parental Pressure at School Level in Mardan, Pakistan

“…Similarly, parental stress for high marks in English is the leading cause of examination phobia influencing students' emotional aspects (e.g., Bussone et al, 2020), which were discussed as phobic, psychological, emotional, and cognitive components (e.g., Benau et al, 2020;Gustems-Carnicer& Calderón, 2013). These components are based on extreme pressure, thinking of failure, worrying about possible outcomes and mental stress, and negative thoughts (Sarason&Sarason, 1990).…”

The Mediating Role of Defensive Mechanisms in the Relationship between Social Phobia and Alexithymia in University Students

“…Also, the low levels of phobia are considered as compromised responses. However, when phobia exceeds its normal level, it damages various parts of life, such as social relationships [8]. Social phobia is the severe and constant fear of situations in which the person is faced with others or has to do something in front of them [9].…”