Perception of the body image and its influence on the development of maladaptive eating behaviors in sports university students

Abstract

Aim to assess the body image perception and its influence on the development of maladaptive eating behavior (MEB) among students of a sports university. Material and methods. A survey was conducted among 768 students using a self-image questionnaire (SIQ) and an Eating Behavior Assessment Scale (EBAS). Results. 43.25.1% of sportswomen and 42.910.8% of sportsmen of complex coordination sports had a pronounced degree of appearance dissatisfaction (AD). The AD level was assessed as "slight dissatisfaction" in most students of other sports and non-athletes (in 50.96.7% of athletes of cyclic sports, 37.56.1% of wrestlers, 38.84.02% of sports games athletes (SGA), 38.2 6.5% of male non-athletes, 40.6 8.7% of female wrestlers). In 31.64.8% of the female SGA and in 31.74.2% women non-athletes we observed "moderate dissatisfaction". The AD level correlated with the presence of clinical manifestations of MEB (r=0.5, p0.001) and with the presence of psychological traits and behavioral stereotypes characteristic of people with MEB (r=0.279, p0.001). Conclusion. A distorted perception of one's own body, namely dissatisfaction with one's appearance, was related with the presence of the MEB symptoms in the students of the sports university. The self-image questionnaire (SIQ) can be used as a screening method to determine the risk group for developing MEB at the prenosological stage. The ranking of sports by the number of athletes with pronounced appearance dissatisfaction can be used to determine the order of development of targeted preventive measures, taking into account the specifics of the sport, the characteristics of the training process and competitive stages.