Self-determination, restrictive eating, and psychological needs: Challenges for young athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of self-determination for sport in the relationship between psychological needs in a sport context, and restrictive eating behaviors among adolescent athletes, while controlling for confounding variables.

Self-report online surveys were completed by 983 adolescent athletes (41.3% identified as girls, M = 14.63 years, SD = 0.765). Structural equation modeling was conducted to investigate the hypothesized associations between basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration in sport, self-determination for sport, and restrictive eating behaviors, controlling for the level of competition and the type of sport practiced. Gender differences between the associations were assessed using moderation analysis.

Girls reported significantly more restrictive eating behaviors (M_girls = 0.85; SD = 1.39 vs. M_boys = 0.62; SD = 1.31). Both associations between basic psychological need frustration and satisfaction and restrictive eating behaviors were mediated by self-determination for sport (β = 0.054, 95% bootstrap IC = 0.027-0.089; β = -0.045, 95% bootstrap IC = -0.079 to -0.021). Further, gender moderated an association so that frustration of basic psychological in sport more strongly predicted restrictive eating behaviors in girls (β = 0.256; p = 0.008), compared with boys.

Our study reveals considerable gender differences in the mechanism underlying the adoption of restrictive eating in adolescent athletes. The research also fills a gap in the literature by supporting the assumptions of the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in eating behaviors, specifically in the sport context.