Eating disorders and disturbed body image perceptions are becoming a growing problem in athletes. Similar to non-athletes, both female and male athletes have shown an upward trend in the development of eating disorders. The purpose of this research paper is to compile previous research on possible reasons why athletes develop eating disorders. Gender differences, outside influence, specific sports and certain personality characteristics are investigated more in depth to see the affects they have on athletes’ tendencies in developing eating disorders and negative body image.

Despite the many benefits associated with women’s participation in sport, women athletes are often exposed to potential challenges that can negatively affect their athletic experience. The root of many challenges in sport comes from the level of performance expectations and the frequency of evaluations that women face. Self-compassion is a construct informed by positive psychology that can help people manage self-judgment, rumination, and feelings of isolation while promoting a kind and understanding perspective of the self. Further, self-compassion promotes positive self-attitude without the drawbacks associated with self-esteem; however, past research on the role of self-compassion in women athletes’ well-being is limited. This research applies a mixed methods approach to address the role of self-compassion in women athletes’ body appreciation and intuitive eating. The first phase was quantitative and expands on past research by examining how self-compassion relates to, and explains unique variance beyond self-esteem, in women athletes’ body appreciation, intuitive eating, disordered eating, compulsive exercise, and state self-criticism. Participants were 90 women athletes aged between 18 and 27 years, who participated in a variety of sports and competitive levels and completed an online survey. Self-compassion was positively related to women athletes’ body appreciation (r=.68, p< .01) and intuitive eating (r=.53, p< .01), while being negatively related to disordered eating (r=-.59, p< .01), compulsive exercise (r=-.37, p< .01), and state self-criticism (r=-.45, p< .01). Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that self-compassion contributed significant unique variance beyond self-esteem, after controlling for age and BMI (calculated from self-reported weight and height), in women athletes’ body appreciation (4.1%, p<.01), intuitive eating (8.7%, p<.01), disordered eating (9.4%, p<.001), compulsive exercise (8.3%, p<.01), and state self-criticism (7.5%, p<.01). This study supports past research suggesting that self-compassion may be a useful tool for women athletes to manage challenging or difficult experiences in sport, while adding to the literature by highlighting that self-compassion might also play a role in positive sport experiences related to body appreciation and intuitive eating. Six women athletes completed the qualitative phase. Interviews were conducted to explore how self-compassion contributes to women athletes’ experiences of body appreciation and intuitive eating. Three main themes arose from the collective case study. Self-compassion plays a role in body appreciation and intuitive eating by helping women athletes to recognize the uniqueness of sport contexts, through the promotion of awareness, and by helping them to set personalized expectations and standards. Together the quantitative and qualitative phases forward the study of women athletes’ self-compassion, body image, and eating behaviour with a particular focus on positive constructs. As such, the current study provides a foundation to explore other positive psychological constructs and constructs informed by positive psychology and to examine the impact of a self-compassion intervention on women athletes’ body appreciation and intuitive eating.

Themes emerging from women who scored high on the Body Esteem Scale will be different from the women who scored low on the Body Esteem Scale. One hundred and nine faculty and staff women of Ball State University completed the Eating Attitudes Test and the Body Esteem Scale to answer the first hypothesis and established a low, medium and high body esteem groups, (BES) in order to answer the second hypothesis. Twenty-eight volunteers, (of the 109) were individually interviewed.A significant difference was found at the .05 level in the subject's present weight, between groups one and two and between groups one and three thus supporting the first hypothesis. Interviews revealed a greater number of negative responses were recorded in the lower BES group and a greater number of positive responses were recorded in the higher BES group thus supporting the second hypothesis. Further study is recommended. / Fisher Institute for Wellness

Wright and Adams (1994; 1999) developed a Choice Reaction Time measure to assess sexual interests in men and women. In their studies, men responded in accordance to their self-reported sexual interests much more consistently than women. Placing these results in the framework of objectification theories (e.g., Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), the present study was designed to examine the relationship between body image and young women's CRT responses.Forty-two females participated in the CRT task. Consistent with previous studies, 21 (50%) of the women took longer to respond on male trials than female trials. These women were compared to those who took longer on female trials on all the body image and sexuality measures using ANOVA's. Results indicated no significant differences on any of the body image measures, but a small number of differences on sexuality measures. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for gender differences in sexual interest. / Department of Psychological Science

Competitive ice skating is a sport in which thinness is stressed and is expected of these athletes. This obsession with thinness leads to decreases in body weight, psychological effects, and eating disorders. This study sought to investigate whether there was a relationship between body image, dietary intake, iron status, percent body fat, and menstrual dysfunction in 11 to 16 year old female ice skating competitors in the United States. Little research has been conducted with ice skaters in the area of body image. However, ice skaters, ballet dancers, and many other athletic groups are involved in an area of our culture in which a lean body image is encouraged.The experimentally accessible population for this study included those U.S. competitive ice skaters attending the Sports Medicine and Science Testing Program at the Indiana World Skating Academy. The target population included females ages 11 to 16.Statistical analysis of the data revealed:(1) A significant relationship between thiamin, calcium, and riboflavin intake and eating attitude test score (body image) in female ice skaters, ages 11-16.(2) A significant relationship between menstrual dysfunction and the weights of female ice skaters, ages 11 to 16.When dietary records were evaluated, the mean caloric intake of the skaters was low at 1781 calories. Caloric intakes were 445 calories less than estimated necessary to support normal growth (Benson et al, 1985). None of the vitamin levels fell below 96% of the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA), however, minerals which were less than 75% of the RDA included calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc and potassium. There were more than 14 participants who consumed greater than 100% of the RDA for vitamin C, vitamin E, folacin, vitamin B-12, niacin, riboflavin and thiamin.Of the 19 participants who participated in hematological assessment, four were found to have an impaired iron status. The contributor to this low iron state may have been poor dietary iron consumption, as 10 of the 20 skaters consumed less than 67% of the RDA for iron.The participants' body image, measured by the Eating Attitude Test (EAT), revealed that two participants had scores greater than 30, indicative of eating disorders.The participant's age may have played a role in the tendency towards an eating disorder, for when age was correlated with EAT scores, a positive relationship existed, indicating that as age increased, the tendency towards an eating disorder increased.Training has posed enormous changes on the body composition of these female ice skaters. Ranges of 21.5% to 25.4% body fat are expected for the age group of 11 to 16. However, 71% of the ice skaters had a body fat less than 22%, and 38% of the skaters had a body fat less than 17%.This study identified numerous menstrual dysfunctions in among the participants as 9 of the 21 participants had irregular menses, and 4 have never menstruated and their ages were 15, 14, 13 and 11. The weights of these ice skaters may have a role in the menstrual dysfunctions, as a significant relationship was found between menstrual dysfunctions and the weights of these skaters. Those participants who had never menstruated, had four of the five lowest weights at 72 lbs, 90 lbs, 95 lbs, and 103 lbs. Those participants who had irregular menses, had weights below 117 lbs.The data indicated the main concerns about the diets of subjects in this study were the low caloric, calcium, and iron intakes. Ice skaters need to be aware of the benefits of a "normal caloric" intake, which can provide adequate amounts of calcium and iron in the diet. In addition, an adequate caloric intake could increase body weights of the ice skaters, and help alleviate amenorrhea and associated health complications. / Department of Home Economics

Introduktion Bröstcancer är den vanligaste cancersjukdom hos kvinnor i den svenska befolkningen. Vid icke spridd cancer är behandlingen alltid operation där en del eller hela bröstet opereras bort. Det kan vara mycket svårt för många kvinnor att acceptera bröstförlust och mastektomi upplevs ofta av kvinnor som ett trauma och ger en försämrad kroppsuppfattning.   Syfte Syftet var att beskriva kvinnornas livskvalitet och psykosociala tillstånd efter mastektomi.   Metod En systematisk litteraturstudie baserades på granskning av 14 kvantitativa artiklar och en kvalitativ artikel. Artiklarna kvalitetsgranskades, analyserades och diskuterades och sammanställde resultatet med olika tema.   Resultat Analysen resulterade i två huvudkategorier: Livskvalité och psykosociala konsekvenser. De psykosociala konsekvenserna efter genomförd mastektomi bestod av tre subkategorier nämligen: sämre kroppsuppfattning, minskad sexuell lust samt ångest och depression vilket i sin tur ledde till försämrad livskvalitet.   Slutsats     Försämrad livskvalitet, dålig kroppsuppfattning och psykisk ohälsa såsom depression, ångest samt försämrat sexualliv påvisades hos majoriteten av kvinnor som genomgick mastektomi. Det är därför viktigt att vårdpersonal ökar sina kunskaper och förståelse för individens behov för att kunna ge rätt stöd och erbjuda olika anpassade insatser i syftet att minska den psykiska påverkan och öka kvinnornas livskvalité. / Introduction Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Sweden. For non- metastasized cancer, the treatment is always surgery where part or the entire breast is surgically removed combined with radiation therapy, hormonal and chemotherapy. It can be very difficult for women to accept breast loss and mastectomy is often experienced by women as a trauma and gives a diminished body image.   Aim Purpose was to describe women's quality of life and psychosocial condition after mastectomy. Ethical considerations have been made.   Method Method vas a systematic literature study based on 14 quantitative articles and one qualitative article. The articles were reviewed for quality, analyzed and discussed and the results summarized in different themes.   Results The analysis resulted in two main categories: Quality of life and psychosocial consequences. The psychosocial consequences after the mastectomy was described in three sub-categories namely: poor body image, decreased sexual desire, as well as anxiety and depression, which in turn led to reduced quality of life.   Conclusion Reduced quality of life, poor body image and psychological problems such as depression, anxiety and impaired sexual life was found in the majority of women who underwent mastectomy. It is therefore important that health professionals look to the individual's needs and increase their knowledge and understanding to provide the right support and offer various proper services with the aim to reduce psychological stress and increase quality of life.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in North America (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2012; Canadian Cancer Society [CCS], 2012). Women diagnosed with breast cancer undergo a traumatic experience that disrupts their quality of life (Holmberg, Scott, Alexy, & Fife, 2001). In the psychological domain of quality of life, body image is disrupted due to the changes associated with breast cancer surgeries and treatments (Hormes et al., 2008). This is important because breast cancer survivors’ quality of life is an essential part of their survivorship (Kaiser, 2008). Evidence has suggested that physical activity shows improvements in body image, survival rates, and decreased risk of mortality (Schmitz, 2011). Furthermore, a unique form of physical activity associated with breast cancer that has risen among this population is endurance sporting events, such as dragon boating and running (Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation [CBCF], 2012; Parry, 2008). Endurance sporting events are common among breast cancer organizations to raise funds and spread breast cancer awareness (Kaiser, 2008). However, they also provide breast cancer survivors with a fun and healthy sporting environment to explore their body image as well as shared experiences with other breast cancer survivors. Researchers have shown endurance sporting events to be a comfortable environment for breast cancer survivors to allow their experiences to unfold (McDonough, Sabiston, & Crocker, 2008; Sabiston, McDonough, & Crocker, 2007). Due to the uniqueness of each woman’s breast cancer experience, it is important to explore their body image experiences to understand their personal stories and provide meaning to enhance their quality of life as breast cancer survivors. The general purpose of this dissertation is to explore the body image and camaraderie experiences of breast cancer survivors in endurance sporting events. Furthermore, the guiding research question of this dissertation is: What are the body image and camaraderie experiences of breast cancer survivors participating in endurance sporting events? Narrative research methodology will be used to provide insight into this research question across two studies. To address the gap in the literature, Study 1 of my dissertation provided narratives of three breast cancer survivors’ body image experiences as they trained for and participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure 5k. Two individual semi-structured interviews, prolonged engagement, and blogging were used as sources of data collection over a time period of 10 weeks. Data analyses led to the emergence of three themes: "new normal", goal setting, and camaraderie. Camaraderie, representing the shared breast cancer survivors’ experiences that allowed the women to focus on their physical capabilities, accept their bodies, and create an overall body image experience, was a particularly salient theme to the women throughout their training. Hence, the purpose of Study 2 was to explore the camaraderie narrative experiences of breast cancer survivors in a season of dragon boating. Focus group interviews and creative practices were conducted with a core group of 11 breast cancer survivors over a six month time period. The women defined camaraderie as fellowship, teamwork, and support shared between women with breast cancer experiences. Subsequent data analyses resulted in five themes: attention please, paddles up, take it away, hold the boat, and reach. Overall, camaraderie was shown to be crucial to the survivorship of the women, as social experiences are an important component to life after breast cancer. The findings were written as a collective (e.g., camaraderie) narrative. Taken together, these two studies demonstrated that body image and camaraderie are important components to breast cancer survivors’ participation in endurance sporting events. More specifically, both studies informed the literature by describing the relationship between the camaraderie and body image experiences for the women involved in both the CIBC Run for the Cure 5k and a season of dragon boating. Camaraderie was the motive that created an overall positive body image experience for the women. Furthermore, endurance sporting events associated with breast cancer formed natural, comfortable, and safe environments for the women to express their experiences. In addition, camaraderie seemed to be a key process through which the women were able to accept their bodies and the body-related changes that resulted from cancer. In both studies, breast cancer survivors’ participation in endurance sports included camaraderie experiences that led to fulfilling the physical, emotional, and social needs as a mode for the women to move beyond their breast cancer experiences.

Avatarer är vanligt förekommande i datorspel och används för nöjes skull men avatarer används även i seriösa spel. Rapporten undersöker hur en persons självkänsla och body image kan stärkas med hjälp av en avatar och vilka egenskaper avataren behöver ha. Undersökningen genomförs som en litteraturstudie. Slutsatsen är att det troligen går att skapa en avatar för detta ändamål, men att det är många aspekter att ta hänsyn till och att det inte är helt självklart vilka val som behöver göras. Viktigt verkar dock att användaren själv får välja sin avatar, att till exempel typen av klädsel påverkar liksom avatarens längd. Det verkar också vara en avvägning om det är bäst att skapa en avatar som liknar personen själv eller att skapa en avatar som har förmågor som personen kan se upp till för att må bättre. Vilket alternativ som är bäst varierar troligen från person till person.

Research on the psychology of women, and women's negative embodied experiences, frequently implicates societal practices of objectification as catalysts for the internalization of objectification in women, or self-objectification. While extant models and theories provide excellent frameworks for identifying the causes, consequences and development of self-objectification in women, much detail is required before these formulations achieve their full clinical application. Information on women's immediate emotional, cognitive, and behavioural responses to objectifying social experiences would assist clinicians and clients to identify common concomitants of objectification and self-objectification, particularly those that aggregate over time into long-term negative psychological outcomes. / In the present study, hypotheses regarding women's social experiences of objectification and self-objectification were tested on 228 college-age women who completed the Objectification Response Questionnaire (ORQ; Robinson, 2001), and measures assessing Objectified Body Consciousness (OBC; McKinley & Hyde, 1996) and Self-Objectification (SOQ; Noll & Fredrickson, 1997). On the ORQ, participants report on emotional and cognitive responses, as well as behavioural responses in the form of social looking, to hypothetical scenarios depicting social experiences of objectifying gazing by a stranger. ORQ responses were unrelated to SOQ scores, but were related to OBC Self-Surveillance and Control Beliefs subscales. Interactions of OBC scores and observer characteristics of gender and attractiveness were also significantly related to ORQ scores. Results are discussed in the context of augmenting prevailing theories and models in the area of women and self-objectification, specifically in the form of clinical applications to disrupt certain social experiences of objectification and self-objectification, and facilitate behaviours, thoughts and attitudes associated with resilience, competence and subjectification.

Grounded in Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985, 2000), the purpose of this thesis was to investigate the protective role of self-determined (i.e., autonomous motivation) relative to non self-determined motivation (i.e., controlled motivation) in response to various media portrayals of the female body. Findings from three laboratory experiments support these hypotheses. Women who felt less self-determined in their daily activities (Study 1 and Study 3) and in the regulation of their eating behaviors (Study 2), perceived more pressure from the media to be thin (Study 1), experienced more body dissatisfaction (Study 1 and Study 2), expressed greater concerns over the quantity of food in their diets (Study 1), and reported more negative affect (Study 2) following exposure to a video which exemplified the societal ―thin ideal‖ compared to a video which did not. They also generated more negative self-appraisals of their body‘s appearance and competence (Study 3), experienced more body shame (Study 3), and reported more introjected reasons for restricting their actual intake of chocolate (Study 3) following exposure to video which depicted the female body as an instrument of women‘s actions compared to one which depicted the female body as object (Study 3). Conversely, women who felt more self-determined in their daily activities (Study 1 and Study 3) expressed greater concerns over the quality of food in their diet (Study 1) and reported less vitality (Study 3) in response to media portrayals of women engaged in self-care (Study 1) and physical activities (Study 3). However, body dissatisfied women who felt more self-determined in the regulation of their eating behaviors (Study 2) formulated more intentions to monitor their food intake and eat fewer unhealthy foods (Study 2) after viewing a video of thin female models compared to no models. Together, these findings support a protective function for self-determined motivation and a potentiating function for non self-determined motivation.