Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pressure To Be Perfect: Eating Disorders In Sports, Genevieve Nitzsche

Writing Across the Curriculum

Eating disorders have become more prevalent in recent years as societal standards have gotten harsher. Typically, when people think about the type of people who develop eating disorders, the first thing that pops into their head is not athletes. There is an association between athletes and the need for great amounts of food to fuel their bodies. However, in sports such as wrestling and aesthetic sports, like gymnastics and figure skating, the emphasis of image and the pressure from their coaches can be extremely harmful to their mental health. This paper discusses specific statistics of the incidence of eating disorders …