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Published on: 9/7/2000
Last Visited: 9/7/2000
In our sample, we do not find anyone who was bulimic, said researcher Daniel M. Landers of Arizona State University in Tempe.Disordered eating is a better term, which I think everybody does in their life..
Some wrestlers forced down their weights artificially before weigh-ins so they can wrestle in lower weight classes against potentially smaller and weaker competitors.
Previous studies used questionnaires to search for eating disorders among wrestlers.But questionnaires are only a start in differentiating bad diet habits from bulimia, which is a clinically diagnosable psychiatric disorder, Landers said.He went the extra step of interviewing wrestlers who had high scores on the questionnaires.
The study in the American College of Sports Medicine journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise looked at 85 junior high and high school wrestlers in the Phoenix area, and 75 non-wrestlers recruited from physical education classes in the same schools.Wrestlers took the questionnaire during and after the wrestling season ; nonwrestlers took it once.
On the first test, 27 percent of wrestlers tested high in one of the categories, termed Drive for Thinness, which Landers described as an overwhelming fear of being overweight.In comparison, only 15 percent tested high in the off-season.that be statistically different from the results during the season, but not different from the 13 percent of nonwrestlers who also tested high.
There were no significant differences among the students in two other categories - Bulimia, which looked for behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, and Body Dissatisfaction.
Overall, 36 percent of wrestlers during the season reached the test's at risk threshold, while only 19 percent were considered at risk of bulimia after the season ; 29 percent of non-wrestlers were rated at risk.
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Those findings are less worrisome than they seem - the questionnaire is only a screening tool, and should be followed with interviews to see if a diagnosis could be made, Landers said.When that was done, we do not find any who met the criteria for bulimic behavior, he said.
The wrestlers had a fear of being fat, but you find out the reason for the fear is they are not going to be able to wrestle, not because they have an overwhelming fear they look terrible. Landers said.
One giveaway for the wrestlers was that they do not worry about their weight in the off-season, Landers said.Once that performance is over, they start eating.They like to eat.They have no aversion to eating, Landers said.In fact, they do not like being skinny - which is very different from people who have this disordered body image..
The results suggested that wrestling officials who want athletes to avoid risky weight-loss methods should concentrate on changing the rules, not looking into the athletes' minds, Landers said.
Rule changes have been made, especially because some behaviors have resulted in deaths.
Schools affiliated with the National Federation of State High School Associations are requiring weigh-ins no more than one hour before the meet, effective this season (1999-2000), said Fritz McGinnes, editor of the wrestling rule book.
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