As lightweight rowing becomes more competitive, particularly if it involves competition for scholarships, larger women may try to make weight, increasing the likelihood of disordered eating behaviors when they attempt to reach a weight far below their natural weight. Wrestling frequently requires that participants attempt to reach a body weight that is unnaturally low for their build. Preliminary data suggests that, similar to wrestlers, lightweight women rowers are also at risk for using unhealthy methods to make weight, such as drastic dieting, purgatives, and dehydration (K. 9 In 1993, Thiel 10 found an equal prevalence of disturbed body image in lightweight male rowers and wrestlers. Wrestlers frequently lose large amounts of body weight during the season and often use unhealthy methods to do so. Both sports require participants to reach a predetermined weight. There are a number of parallels between wrestling and lightweight rowing. Such fears have largely been based on comparisons made between lightweight rowing and wrestling, a weight-dependent sport shown to be associated with disordered eating in men. Still, lightweight rowing for women has grown slowly, partly due to the perception among coaches and administrators that adding lightweight rowing programs for women and having women “make weight” could increase the prevalence of eating disorders. Recently, Title IX, which requires equal participation for women in collegiate sports in the United States, has yielded a vast increase in heavyweight (no weight class) rowing opportunities for women at the collegiate varsity level, as well as interest in lightweight women's rowing. This may be due in part to the fact that lightweight rowing for women, which uses a single weight class of 130 pounds at the collegiate level, has traditionally involved small numbers of participants. Weight-related sports also include weight-dependent sports, which require athletes to “make weight” for competition, such as wrestling, judo, and lightweight rowing.ĭisordered eating has not been well investigated in female athletes participating in a relatively new weight-dependent sport for women-lightweight rowing. 2,4,5 Weight-related sports with documented eating disorder issues include distance running, 2 which rewards low weight with improved performance, and aesthetic sports such as figure skating, 6 gymnastics, 7 and ballet, 8 which value appearance. While the prevalence of eating disorders varies widely depending on the population examined, high rates have been documented in female athletes, 1–3 particularly those involved in weight-related sports. These results support ongoing monitoring of disturbed eating and weight-making practices in weight-dependent sports, but do not support discouraging the growth of lightweight women's rowing at the collegiate level. This use of pathologic weight-making behaviors is of significant clinical concern. Lightweight rowing and distance running were not associated with increased prevalence of eating disorders in this sample, although rowing was associated with increased restraint and diuretic misuse. There were no significant differences between groups in terms of probable cases of eating disorders or disordered eating behavior. Rowers also reported increased use of diuretics. Rowers showed significantly more restraint in eating patterns during the previous month and less shape concern than either runners or controls. The Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire, a validated questionnaire evaluating eating attitudes and behaviors, and additional questions regarding weight and menstrual history were used to assess probable eating disorder cases and disordered eating tendencies. Lightweight women rowers (n = 122) at eastern collegiate championship regattas, collegiate distance runners (n = 79) at a regional track meet, and a convenience sample of collegiate controls (n = 95) were surveyed. It was hypothesized that rowers would show an increased prevalence of restraint in their eating behaviors, but not probable eating disorder cases as compared with runners or controls, because they are required to make their target weight but are discouraged from further weight loss. This study examined eating behavior in collegiate women lightweight rowers, runners, and controls.
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