Prevalence of Eating Disorders in Indian Female Weightlifter: A Psychological Perspective

Abstract

Eating disorders are regarded as a consequence of gross disturbances of eating behavior. The major disorders are linked with abnormally low food intakes and/or bouts of binge eating followed by vomiting the stomach substances. If it remains undiagnosed and untreated eating disorders cannot only have damaging effects on the health of the sportsperson, and in other cases it can be disastrous. Eating disorders happen in maximum cases in the weight category game and are 10 times more common in females than in males. In the athletic population, it is difficult to define a weight loss criterion for an eating disorder diagnosis to be made, often because most athletes already start out at normal or below-normal weights. (Slavin, 1987). The prevalence of eating disorders in the female athletic population ranges from anywhere between one and forty percent, depending on the athletes questioned, and the methodology used (Sundgot-Borgen, 1994). The prevalence of eating disorders appears to be higher among female athletes who compete in endurance and weight-category sports. A study was conducted on 23 national level female weight lifters to see what types of eating disorders are prevalent in Indian sports persons. A specially designed questionnaire was administered on these sportspersons which consisted of twenty four items and seven variables namely- body shape, bulimia, weight reduction, fatigue, selfesteem, injuries and fasting and feasting and heart rate apparatus. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics like mean and standard deviation and correlations were calculated. The results revealed a negative correlation of fasting and feasting with Injuries, socio economic Status with Vegetarianism, fasting and feasting with heart rate share, whereas positive correlation was found between body shape and bulimia, weight reduction and bulimia, body shape and weight reduction. The results revealed that weight lifters sampled in the study are suffering from symptoms of eating disorders.