THE PERCEIVED EFFECTS OF PUBERTY AND SOCIAL CONTEXT
STRATEGIC ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS
K.DISORDERS
Doll, E. Duclos-Orsello,
R. Leger,
& L.
Li
ON EATING
AMONG AESTHETIC
SPORT
ATHLETES
*
†
†
Joseph
Murphy,
MS,
ATC,
V. Momsma,
PhD Salem,
Murphy J , French K , Mensch J Eva
: Salem
State College,
*
†
MA
:
University
of
South
Carolina,
Columbia,
SC
RECOMMENDATIONS
CURRENT WEAKNESSES
University of South Carolina
teaching faculty makes it challenging to
• The onset of puberty, which is defined by intra-individual
observe
every
student
every
day
at
their
variation, can
be a liability for these
athletes.
CURRENT
STRENGTHS
clinical experience. An instrument that
• Slowing down this process might involve attempts at
can
measure
and
document
student
(F
ROM
LAST
YEAR
’
S
REPORT
)
controlling diet which can manifest into disordered eating
activities at their clinical experience
Newell’s
Constraint
Model
Applied
would be invaluable. Such an instrument
to
• Central
repository
– Office of CIE
would
provide
clinical
coordinators
Lerner’s Matching Hypothesis
important outcome data that could be
•
Currently,
SSU
has
four
types
of
used to evaluate the quality of clinical
international agreements:
sites• asThose
wellthat
as provide
student
performance.
for faculty, staff,
•
•
•
student, and programmatic exchanges
Student exchanges only
Disordered Eating
OBJECTIVE
Grant funded with limited scope
Those where SSU is a member
a
Positiveof
Affect
consortium for student exchange
The purpose of this study was to
• Students
whobehaviors
participateofinstudents
one of
document
clinical
the
exchange
options
can
obtain
while
at
a
variety
of
clinical
sites.
• Newell: behaviors arise from interactions of constraints
reflecting the
individual, the environment in which thecredit
non-degree/non-matriculated
behavior occurs and the task
or a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree
from
SSU of the individual (physical or
• Constraint:
a characteristic
psychological), environment or task leading to adaptive or
maladaptive behavior
• Similarly, Lerner’s (1992) matching hypothesis postulates:
maladaptive behaviors manifest through a mismatch between
an individual’s characteristics and task or environmental
demands.
• Understanding the etiology of disordered eating from this
interactionist perspective can aid subsequent research and
guide interventions targeting those constraints and
OBJECTIVE
mechanisms in which they interact.
• To examine the depth and detail of individual and interacting
components representing Newell’s model in relation
to sportZc
related
1) perspectives on disordered eating and 2) positive affect
•4 disclosed being clinically diagnosed with Anorexia
Nervosa
Athleticadministrative
training students
•Participants:
No clear financial,
who
were
admitted
into
the
professional
support
OPEN-ENDED STRUCTURED INTERVIEW
phase
theofATEP
(n=
18;the
10were
females,
8
• Based
on
aof
review
literature;
questions
aligned
Only
nominal
support
from
CAS
Dean’swith
Lerner’s
(1992)
matching
hypothesis
andjuniors,
Newell’s
model
males;
3 sophomores,
12
3to
office,
such as travel
expenses
related
components
development
seniors;
20.85 +
1.4 insight
years).
•Questions designed
to gain
into These
two themes:
perspectives
on disordered
eating and
positive affect
students were
purposely
sampled
to from
skatingtemplate or model
•synchronized
No
uniform
ensure that clinical behaviors were
Some agreements are signed by the
• Each
question contained
multiple
parts to probe for depth
measured
at diverse
clinical
President, others by the Vice President
experiences.
Some agreements are 1 page memos, others
DATA COLLECTION
areused
email
others are
5 or 6
•Email was
foragreements,
recruitment. Consenting
participants
completed
the open-ended
via internet survey.
pages questionnaire
Datadetailed
Collection:
The students
This procedure allowed for targeting the largest available
completed
a clinical diary for each day at
sample
(Reips, 2000).
•their
Noclinical
consideration
of
faculty
and
experience for an entire
•Opendepartmental
ended structured survey
accessed
through a website
time
and
resources
semester.
The participants
students were asked to
available
to consenting
invested
in
the
development
and
record the primary activity completed
maintenance
of
these
•Nature
of questions involved
positive partnerships
aspects associated with
every 15 minutes of each day. The
synchronized skating, sources of pressure, and reflections on
students
were
sent
a text with
message
personal
and peerbased
experiences
disordered eating
•every
No clear
information
provided
to
hour to remind them to complete
•Subject
selection
was
completed
by when
data saturation
was
faculty
in
order
to
guide
them
to
the dairy.
achieved
pursue such initiatives or to promote
DATA ANALYSIS
student participation
•Deductive approach to content analysis
• No
assessment
•Basic
unitsuniversity-wide
of analysis were quotes
representing individual and
all possible
paired constraints of Newell’s (1986) model (k = 10)
system
applied to each of the two themes from Lerner’s matching
hypothesis
•Trustworthiness was established by use of member checks,
RESULTS
coding of data by two researchers
(triangulation) including
consensus validation
•194 units of analysis were coded representing each of the 10 possible
components
•Frequency counts for constraints grouped by questions
pertaining
to each
of Lerner’s
themes;had
separate
categories
were
•Several
examples
of interacting
constraints
underlying
themes exposing
created
for outliers
effects
of skating
uniforms, coaches’ and athletes misconceptions about growth
•Lower order themes reflecting Newell’s single and interacting
are presented
by frequencyto
of occurrence/frequency
1)constraints
Need clear
communication
of participants
departments, faculty and students about the
•Examples
of lower order themes are presented below the
Analysis:
existing
Strategic
Partnerships.
constraint component with the theme and participant in
Diaries
were
then
coded by
the
We now
have
a central
repository
for MOUs
parentheses
research
using
the to
Athletic
(CIE) – team
but this
needs
be known by
Training-Clinical
Education Time
everyone on campus.
Framework (AT-CETF). Students were
during the coding
process
to
2) contacted
Shore up commitment
to existing
MOUs
clarify
any
questions
the researchers
before
adding
additional
MOUS.
had about a diary entry. The AT-CETF
been previously
usedpriorities
to determine
3) has
Establish
university-wide
for
clinical
behaviors
in survey research.
developing
and maintaining
MOUs &
The
framework
is made of 16
clinical
ensure
that development
of new
MOUs is
behaviors
studentlist.
maybe
based onwhich
this priority
during their clinical
•engaged
Previous in
recommendations
included the pursuit of
more partnerships
that offer shorter
lengths of stay; &
experience.
The categories
of this
the pursuit of more study formats (2+2 or 3+2) to
framework include behaviors such as
recruit more international students to study at SSU
rehabilitation
tasks,
evaluation
tasks,
•Task
constraints protocols
like uniformity,for
jumps
and dresses interacting
4)
Establish
developing
new
emergency
care
tasks
and
preparation
with
individual constraints
like growth,
body
image, linearity and
MOUS
RESULTS
sticking
out were common
tasks.
Tenets of Lerner’s (1992)
Matching Hypothesis
Newell’s (1986)
Constraint Components
Higher Order
Themes
“Thinner skaters have longer lines.” (Thinness,
P1)
“(thinner skaters)…their overall appearance is
more pleasing to the eye.” (Thinness, P8)
“Puberty definitely contributed (to ED) because I
was fully grown by the time I was 12” (Puberty,
P8)
Discipline (9/7)
Dresses (4/2)
Task (13/7)
“Wearing a competition uniform (or dress, because I
suppose that's what you mean) is worse than wearing
normal clothing. It is a "who looks best in the dress"
competition.” (Dresses, P7)
Major life event (2/2)
Team (3/2)
Parent (3/2)
Coach (1/1)
Environment (7/5)
“The head coach of an elite synchro team is the main
source of pressure. Her team is selected from the best
skaters from across the country….. Because so many
talented skaters wish to skate for her, she has to ability
to field the team of her desire.” (Coach, P1)
“The most pressure would come from teammates”
(Team, P3)
Structure x Function (5/4)
Positive affects (4/3)
Negative affects
(1/1)
•Comments
from
coaches and teammates
indicated
5)
Support
committed
faculty members
&
misconceptions about the controllability of biological factors
departments
invested
in & to
benefiting
involved
in growth.
Students
that were
assigned
different
from experiences
specific partnerships
clinical
spent a majority of
their time in different clinical behaviors.
5)Students
Develop who
a process
for sun-setting
MOUs
were assigned
to a clinical
instructor in a NCAA FBS series football
6)setting
Develop
datamost
and of
information
spent
their time systems
(47% or
84.6 min) performing preparation tasks
7)such
Develop
communications,
marketing,
as restocking,
filling water
coolers,public
promote
our partnerships
icerelations
bags, icetocups,
bringing
water to a
practice field, setting up cooler or blood8)borne
Needpathogens
SUFFCIENT
RESOURCES
(financial,
station.
Students who
human
etc.) to support
this work.
E.G: in a
were assigned
to a clinical
instructor
a. school
MOU spent
coordinator
fortheir
University
high
most of
time in ~
“
Dedicatedcare
liaison
within
CIE
emergency
tasks
(30%
or 63 min)
b. as
financial
to students
so I
such
woundassistance
care. Students
who were
international
study instructor
is affordable.
assigned
to a clinical
in a
physician’s office spent most of their time
(60% or 108 min) in evaluation tasks.
Tenets of Lerner’s (1992)
Matching Hypothesis
Newell’s (1986)
Constraint Components
Higher Order
Themes
Structure X Task (23/9)
Lower Order
Themes
Jumps (4/4)
Effects of growth
on performance
(1/1)
Sticking out (9/6)
Dress 5/5
“It’s the combination of appearance and skills,
because if you aren’t that great of a skater and are on
the larger side, your size just makes you stick out
even more.” (Sticking Out, P5)
If you were 10 pounds lighter you would be much
prettier to watch.” (Effects of Growth on
Performance, P1)
“…growing sucks for skaters. Your center of balance
Coach to
(10/6)
isStructure
thrown
off and…(22/7)
it is awful trying
learn jumps
X Environment
Team
(8/6)
and spins again.” (Jumps, P7)
Others (4/3)
“…skaters around me were really thin and always
talked about getting thinner and achieving the ‘bony’
look.” (Team, P4)
“Skaters should be lean, relatively box-y and around
5’8. If a coach had 20 of these skaters, they would be
in heaven.” (Coach, 7)
Note: (# of units of analysis/# of participants)
“Many coaches encourage diets during puberty so
that the skater will not grow as much” (Coach, P3)
Function x Task (16/9)
Positive affects of dress (4/4)
Negative affects of dress (5/5)
Skating effects on esteem (4/3)
ED effects on skating (3/3)
I hate, hate, hate competition dresses. They never
sit right and make me self conscious of my body. I’d
prefer to compete in practice attire.” (Dress: Negative
Affect, P8)
Pressures on skaters (6/5)
Function x Environment (8/5)
Skaters’ reactions (4/3)
Themes
Themes
Shape (3/3)
Posture (1/1)
Health (1/1)
“Skating keeps me in shape”
(Shape, P3, P8)
Process (7/6)
Individual Function
Physical Characteristics (18/17)
Lower Order
Themes
Drive for thin (3/3)
Puberty (2/2)
Individual Structure
(5/4)
Constraint Components
Individual Structure
Physical Characteristics (5/5)
POSITIVE AFFECT
• In such sports, body shape defines performance; a
svelte petite body shape is essential for both technical
The
workload
the clinical and didactic
and
aesthetic
aspects of
of success
Matching Hypothesis
(Enjoyment, Pride, Self-esteem)
CONTEXT
Figure 1 Themes Reflecting Lone and Interacting Constraints of
Newell’s Model Implicated in the Maladaptive Behavior of
Disordered Eating.
EATING DISORDER
• Subjective evaluation, is inherent in aesthetic sports
such as synchronized skating and can be highly stressful.
METHODOLOGY
(FROM LAST YEAR’S REPORT)
PARTICIPANTS
•Criterion
for if
synchronized
skaters >18
years
• Notsampling
known
the
university
has
METHODOLOGY an
existing
infrastructure
•10 collegiate
synchronized
skaters to promote,
• Age:18-24
yrs;and
M=20.8+2.39
manage
sustain exchanges after
•Age at entry:
6-17; M=10.44+3.28
Setting:
A
CAATE
accredited athletic
they
have
been
established
•Years of synchronized skating experience: 4-18;
training
education program (ATEP) at a
M=8.67+4.98
Southeastern
university.
•large
No
clear
ownership
of
these
initiatives
• 6 self-reported having an eating disorder
EATING DISORDER
CONTEXT
FOR THE FUTURE
Figure 2 Themes Reflecting Constraints in Adaptive
Affects
Tenets of Lerner’s (1992)
Newell’s (1986)
Higher Order
Lower Order
(78
“I can forget everything
else going on in my life
when I am on the ice,Product (11/11)
it’s a stress reliever”
(Product, Stress Relief,
P6)
Task (15/9)
Love of sport (2/2)
Goals (3/3)
Learning (2/1)
Esteem (4/4)
Time Management (2/2)
Stress Relief (1/1)
Discipline (1/1)
Rush (1/1)
Pride (1/1)
Beauty (1/1)
Exercise (3/3)
Thrill of Competition (2/2)
Goal Attainment (5/3)
edges”
Travel (2/2)
Skill (1/1)
QUESTIONS & FEEDBACK
“Doing the right steps ..and
(Thrill of Skating, P9)
“I was able to travel the country and
later even the world” (Travel, P4)
What should be the criteria for
developing new or maintaining
existing Memoranda of
Understanding (MOUs) and why?
Environment (21/8)
Team (8/6)
Friendship (9/6)
Share Similar Interests (2/2)
Camaraderie (1/1)
Pleasing Coach (1/1)
“I made amazing friendships that lasted
beyond the rink” (Friendships, P4)
“Trying to please my coach” (Pleasing Coach,
P2)Function x Task (7/3)
Frustration/Discipline Transfer (2/1)
Enjoying Travel (3/1)
Talent Expression (1/1)
Enjoying Challenge (1/1)
“I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself to the best I
can be, it is the challenge and process of skating on
a team that I love” (Enjoying Challenge, P3)
Function x Environment (4/4)
Motivation and enjoyment of team
and crowd (4/4)
DISCUSSION
• These findings are consistent with previous quantitative
research implicating contextual and pubertal aspects of
aesthetic sports as contributing factors in disordered eating
(Monsma & Malina, 2004)
CONCLUSIONS
•Evidence especially involving task and environmental themes
What
types
of
resources
do
you
interacting with structure support Lerner’s matching hypothesis
seetoas
to support
as applied
bothnecessary
the etiology of disordered
eating this
and positive
affect (e.g.
enjoyment).
type
of work?
Understanding what clinical behaviors
•Skaters
citing negative
skating that
were
are occurring
ataspects
eachofclinical
site
is involved in
their disordered eating experience also cited positive affective
crucial
for
placing
students
at their
aspects
to the
sport
that seemed
to out weight
the negative.
This
paralleled
the findings of and
a series
of two studies by Gould,
clinical
experience
program
Scanlan and colleague.
evaluation. Students that are assigned
•Asto
in clinical
previous research
the ideal their
body was
described as lean,
sites where
didactic
tall and strong (Greenleaf, 2004), and performance
course
work
can
be
immediately
improvements would accompany weight loss (Taylor & Ste.
transferred
to clinical practice are likely
Marie,
1999).
to have a more
rewarding
experience.
CONCLUSIONS
•Skaters’ physical characteristics were unknown which is a
limitation of this study.
•Coaches, athletic trainers, parents and athletes themselves would
Other
Feedback
benefit from an accurate
understanding
of factors related to growth
and development
•Educational efforts designed at targeting the social agents in
aesthetic sport contexts can play a role in reducing the interacting
impact of sport demands on growing children who also report
many positive attributes to involvement in this sport.
Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and
March 31–April 5,Dance
2009
Tampa, Florida