Anxiety Levels in Young Female Athletes

A Turkish study recently compared anxiety levels of young female athletes with disordered eating and those without. Both state and trait scores were higher in athletes with disordered eating behaviors than among athletes without such disorders (Eat Behav 2007; 8:143). The researchers also evaluated anxiety levels according to leanness and non-leanness sports. Leanness sports were those where specific weight was considered to be important, such as gymnastics, running, wrestling and tae kwon do. Basketball, handball, and tennis were examples of non-leaness sports. Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-40) and State-Trait-Anxiety scores were similar for both types of sports. Nearly 17% of the athletes had some form of disordered eating.

According to the authors, high anxiety levels remained even after recovery from an eating disorder.