The Association of Body Image With Anthropometric Measures and Eating Disorders Among Students From University Sports Teams

Abstract

Background and aims: Body image is defined as a complex concept involving a person's thoughts,<br />feelings, and attitudes about his/her body. The body image dissatisfaction may expose the individuals,<br />specifically athletes, to eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this study is to assess the association of body<br />image score with EDs and anthropometric measures in students from university sports teams.<br />Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 225 students from sports teams of Qazvin<br />University in 2014. The samples were selected by the census method. The Multidimensional Body-<br />Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), eating attitudes test (EAT-26) questionnaire, and demographic<br />information questionnaire were used for collecting data. Anthropometric characteristics were also<br />measured. The data were analyzed in SPSS software version 22.0.<br />Results: The result of the study showed that the association of body image score with age (P=0.012,<br />OR=0.80, CI=0.179, 1.437) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (P=0.013, OR=-52.14, CI=-93.20,<br />-11.08) was positively significant. Although the mean body image score was lower in students with<br />EDs, it was not statistically significant. In addition, there was not a significant association between body<br />image score and other variables such as marital status, gender, educational level, body mass index<br />(BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and hip circumference (HC) (P>0.05).<br />Conclusion: In this study, the body image had a positive significant association with age, and a negative<br />significant one with WHtR. This may indicate that abdominal obesity plays an important role in body<br />image satisfaction among students from the university sports teams.