EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOMETRIC INVENTORIES THAT ASSESS EATING BEHAVIORS AND ENERGY DEFICIENCY IN MALE ATHLETES
Open Access
- Author:
- Ware, Jessica
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Mary Jane De Souza, Thesis Supervisor
Mark Dyreson, Thesis Honors Advisor
Ana Carla Salamunes, Thesis Supervisor - Keywords:
- energy deficiency
disordered eating
eating disorders
energy availability
exercising men
male athletes - Abstract:
- Male athletes, particularly those involved in sports that emphasize leanness, are at risk for developing symptoms of the Male Athlete Triad, which include impaired bone health, suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, and energy deficiency. Energy deficiency is a state where the body conserves energy for physiological processes essential to survival due to low energy availability. Purpose: The purpose of our study was two-fold: (1) to determine if dietary cognitive restraint (DCR) discriminated between energy deficiency and energy replete status, assessed by serum total triiodothyronine (TT3) and the measured to predicted resting metabolic rate ratio (m/pRMR ratio) in young exercising men, and (2) to determine if DCR was related to disordered eating (DE) behaviors, including Drive for Leanness (DL) and Drive for Muscularity (DM), Perfectionism (P), Body Dissatisfaction (BD), and Drive for Thinness (DT) in young exercising men. Methods: Our study was a cross-sectional analysis that assessed measured RMR (mRMR) by using indirect calorimetry and body composition with the Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA). DE habits were measured with subscales of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), including DCR, subscales of the Eating Disorder Invenotry – 3 (EDI-3), including DT, P, and BD, and separate subscales that included DM and DL in male athletes and recreationally active males (18-33 years). T-tests and Mann-Whitney tests were used to assess differences between groups of high and low DCR. Study participants were classified into a normal DCR (NCR) group (score <13) or high DCR (HCR) group (score ≥13) depending on their TFEQ questionnaire. Results: No measures of age (22.28±2.963 vs 22.5±4.815 years, p=0.856), height (180.897±6.8 vs 180.567±6.174 cm, p=0.886), body mass (78.93±10.51 vs 77.668±12.229 kg, p=0.740), percent body fat (% BF) (19.031±2.86 vs 19.542±3.558 %, p=0.631), body mass index (BMI) (24.06±2.50 vs 23.755±3.334 kg/m2, p=0.745), lean body mass (LBM) (59.53±8.5 vs 59.981±7.799 kg, p=0.874), and fat free mass (FFM) (62.57±8.78 vs 62.928±8.204 kg, p=0.906) among the high DCR (HCR) and normal DCR (NCR) groups were significant (p>0.05). NCR and HCR groups had similar m/pRMR ratios for the Harris-Benedict (0.911±0.076 vs 0.912±0.099, p=0.974), Cunningham1980 (0.960±0.080 vs 0.943±0.070, p=0.522) Cunningham1991 (1.010±0.084 vs 0.993±0.069, p=0.535), and DXA equations (0.967±0.085 vs 0.931±0.084, p=0.224) and similar TT3 serum concentration levels (114.967±24.04 vs 112.267±12.565, p=0.641). Additionally, there were no significant correlations between TT3 levels and the Harris-Benedict, Cunningham1980, Cunningham1991, and DXA calculated m/pRMR ratios (p>0.05). The NCR group did not show any significant differences on the P scale when compared with HCR participants (10.03±4.145 vs 11.83±5.149, p=0.246). However, NCR participants had significantly lower BD (4.59±4.997 vs 8.25±5.754, p=0.048), DM (40.41±15.740 vs 52.25±11.717, p=0.024), DT (2.14±2.560 vs 5.42±4.926, p=0.047), and DL (34.52±11.230 vs 43.67±8.370, p=0.015) compared to HCR participants. DCR score was positively correlated with DT (r=0.47, p=0.002), DM (r=0.43, p=.005), and DL (r=0.56, p<0.001). Conclusion: Even though DCR score was associated with other DE subscales, detection of energy deficiency in males did not seem to be determined by DCR. Future research must be conducted to clarify if there are associations between eating behaviors measured by DE subscales and energy deficiency in young exercising men.