Psychological links between body image concerns and eating disorder psychopathology in athletes and non-athletes

Lay summary
Body image in sports is complex and may depend on various factors, including sport type, competition level and gender. Moreover, sporting individuals may have multiple body images - evaluating their body in the context of sports (sport body image) and in the context of daily life and general beauty standards (social body image). It is important to understand body image concerns in athletes and others, as it might be a risk factor for eating disorder psychopathology in the general and sporting population.
Part I of the thesis reports a systematic review and meta-analysis that explored body image concerns across different sports and sporting levels. Twenty-one papers were included in the review and meta-analysis. In general, athletes had a better body image than non-athletes, with no reliable differences between different types of sport. Limitations of the papers included a lack of comparisons across competitive, non-competitive and non-athletes. Furthermore, more longitudinal studies are needed, to determine the role of different types of body image in sports (social, sporting).
Part II of the thesis developed on the findings from Part I, reporting a study that explored body image (social and sporting) across different sporting competition levels over six months. Since body image seems to be related to eating disorder psychopathology in sporting populations in complex ways, there was a need to understand the psychological mediators that may explain the link. The study explored possible psychological links (self-esteem; social appearance anxiety; fear of negative evaluation) between body image and eating psychopathology among competitive sports engagers, non-competitive sports engagers and sports non-engagers. Five hundred and ten adults completed questionnaires at three time-points over six months. Online measures of sports demographics, ED psychopathology, body image (social; sporting), self-esteem and social anxiety were completed at time 1. Answers on the sports demographic questionnaire were used to sort participants into competitive sports engager, non-competitive sports engager and sports non-engager. The self-esteem and social anxiety measures were completed again at three months. Eating disorder psychopathology and body image measures were collected a further three months later (6 months after time 1). Competitive sports engagers had better body image and lower social anxiety than the other two groups. Poorer social body image and more positive appearance-related sporting body image predicted ED psychopathology among competitive sports engagers. However, there was no mediation effect of self-esteem or social anxiety. Recommendations are made for engaging in sporting competition in ways that enhance wellbeing.