Eating behaviours in youths: a comparison between female and male athletes and non-athletes

Abstract

Objective: This study compared the different factors associated with eating behaviours among young female and male athletes and non-athletes. Method: A total of 580 female and male athletes and 362 female and male non-athletes between 10 and 19 years old participated. We used the subscales of the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to evaluate the factors associated with unhealthy eating behaviours. Results: We found higher scores for females on the Diet subscale compared with males, regardless of athletic group (p < .05). Non-athlete youths scored higher on this subscale compared with male athletes (p < .05). Our findings indicate higher scores for female athletes with regard to the Bulimia and Preoccupation with Food subscale compared with other the groups (p < .05). Moreover, we observed that non-athlete males were more likely to engage in binge eating compared with athletes of the same sex (p < .05). Finally, females had higher scores on the Oral Self subscale than males, regardless of athletic group (p < .05). Conclusion: We concluded that the factors associated with eating behaviours differ with regard to sex and group.