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Body checking and avoidance among dancers
Catherine R Drury1, Stephen Armeli2, Katharine L Loeb3
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA; School of Psychology, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1000 River Road, T-WH1-01, Teaneck, NJ 07666, USA.
Dancers exhibit heightened risks for eating disorders (EDs), with body checking and avoidance behaviors strongly linked to ED pathology. Specialized assessment methods are crucial for effective treatment in this population.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Sports Science
- Eating Disorder Research
Background:
- Dancers face unique pressures contributing to eating disorder (ED) risks.
- Body checking and body avoidance behaviors may manifest distinctively in dancers.
- Existing ED assessment tools may not fully capture these nuances.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the reliability and convergent validity of body checking and avoidance measures in dancers.
- To understand the phenomenology of these behaviors within the dance environment.
- To inform the development of dancer-specific ED assessment and treatment strategies.
Main Methods:
- 80 professional and pre-professional dancers from seven genres completed self-report measures.
- Measures included body checking, body avoidance, ED pathology, clinical perfectionism, depression, and anxiety.
- Reliability (internal consistency) and convergent validity were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Body checking and avoidance measures showed adequate internal consistency.
- Increased body checking and avoidance strongly correlated with higher ED pathology.
- Moderate to strong correlations were found with clinical perfectionism, depression, and anxiety.
- Dancers described unique behaviors like specific mirror use and technology-assisted checking.
Conclusions:
- Body checking and avoidance are significantly associated with ED pathology in dancers.
- Existing measures have utility but may miss dance-specific behaviors.
- Interventions targeting body checking and avoidance are recommended for dancers, especially pre-professionals.
- Dancer-specific ED assessment tools are needed.
