Teammate influences on the eating attitudes and behaviours of athletes: A systematic review

Abstract

Background: It has been well documented that athletes are at an increased risk of developing disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. Over the last two decades, researchers have focused their attention on how teammates may influence athletes' eating attitudes and behaviours. Objective: To systematically review the literature relating to teammate influences on athletes' eating attitudes and behaviours. Method: A systematic literature search of the SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO and MEDLINE databases was conducted. Qualitative and quantitative studies were included if they met the following inclusion criteria: (1) examined the relationship between teammate influence and eating attitudes and/or behaviours; (2) sampled actively training athletes; (3) written in English; and (4) published in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Results: Twenty-four studies were included (n = 13 quantitative, n = 11 qualitative). Included studies were found to be of good or reasonable quality. Mechanisms of influence were categorised as (1) Teammate support (e.g., supportive teammate friendships, promotion of healthy eating practices, vigilance against disordered eating), and (2) Teammate pressure (e.g., conflicting teammate friendships, critical comments and appearance conversations, maladaptive team norms, and competitive comparisons). Conclusion: Teammates are an important source of influence on athlete eating attitudes and behaviours and these influences can be protective against, or engender an increased risk for, disordered eating. Additional, prospective research is required to enhance understanding of the mechanisms of teammate influences and to inform the development of interventions to reduce disordered eating among athletes.

Teammate influences, psychological well‐being, and athletes’ eating and exercise psychopathology: A moderated mediation analysis

“…For example, through the modelling of teammates’ disordered eating (Arthur‐Cameselle, Sossin, & Quatromoni, ; Engel et al, ) or perceiving a pressure from teammates to lose weight/change shape (Petrie, Greenleaf, Carter, & Reel, ; Petrie, Greenleaf, Reel, & Carter, ). In line with this, a large‐scale cross‐sectional study (Scott, Haycraft, & Plateau, ) that assessed the importance of multiple teammate influence mechanisms revealed that for both males and females, the best teammate influence predictors of elevated eating and exercise psychopathology were a perceived pressure from teammates to lose weight/change shape and the modelling of teammates’ bingeing and purging behaviors. Conversely, the best predictor of reduced eating and exercise psychopathology was having supportive teammate friendships.…”

“…Global self‐esteem has been widely assessed using the RSES in athlete populations (e.g., Engel et al, ; Scott et al, ). Athletes responded to 10 items using a 4‐point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 4 (“strongly agree”).…”

“…In athletic populations, extant literature provides evidence in support of Fairburn et al's () proposed mediation pathway. For example, supportive teammate friendships have been associated with higher self‐esteem, higher positive affect, lower anxiety and depression (Kipp & Weiss, ; Scott et al, ) whereas pressure from teammates to lose weight has been associated with increased negative affect (sadness, anger, guilt, Anderson, Petrie, & Neumann, ) and modelling of teammates disordered eating has been found to occur in the context of negative thoughts and negative affect (Gavrilova, Donohue, & Galante, ).…”

“…Furthermore, research has yet to investigate how the strength of the indirect effect (i.e., the relationship between teammate influences and disordered eating/exercise via psychological well‐being) may differ according to the athletes’ gender. This is an oversight given the aforementioned gender differences in the prevalence of disordered eating/exercise behaviors and research to suggest that in contrast to female athletes, negative affect may be less important in the development of disordered eating and exercise for male athletes (Petrie et al, ; Scott et al, ).…”

“…To address the gaps and limitations of existing literature, the first aim of the present study was to explore whether self‐esteem, anxiety and depression mediate longitudinal relationships between the teammate influences and disordered eating/exercise behaviors that have been consistently found in the literature: supportive teammate friendships (Kipp & Weiss, ; Shanmugam et al, , , Scott et al, ), modelling of teammates’ disordered eating (Arthur‐Cameselle et al, ; Engel et al, ; Gavrilova et al, ; Scott et al, ) and teammate pressure to lose weight/change shape (Petrie et al, , ; Stirling & Kerr, ; Scott et al, ; Voelker, Petrie, Reel, & Gould, ). A prospective design using three time‐points was employed to determine the true temporal precedence of these variables.…”