Striving to Be Thin: Weight Pressures and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Professional Young Female Modern Dancers

Background/Objectives: This study examined weight pressures and symptoms of eating disorders in professional modern dancers. Methods: Eighty-six female dancers (age: 20.7 ± 2.5 y, dancing experience: 14.2 ± 4.4 y) completed the Eating Attitudes Test 26 (EAT-26), the Weight-Pressures in Sport inventory for females (WPS-F), and provided information on their dance lessons. Results: Twenty-five dancers (29.07%) scored ≥20 in EAT-26. Positive associations were found between EAT-26 and its subscales with WPS-F and its subscales (r = 0.217 to 0.600, p ˂ 0.05). Negative associations were found between age and dancing experience with the EAT-26 score and its subscales Dieting and Bulimia and Food Preoccupation (r = -0.286 to -0.373, p ˂ 0.001) and between body weight and BMI with Oral Control (r = -0.300 to -0.372, p ˂ 0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that Pressures regarding Appearance and Performance, age, and dancing experience accounted for 38.3% of the variance in EAT-26 (p ˂ 0.001), with age and training experience showing a negative coefficient. Moderation analysis showed that dancing experience moderates the relationship between Pressures regarding Appearance and Performance and eating disorder symptoms (interaction b = -0.329, p = 0.040). Conclusions: Professional female dancers are at elevated risk for disordered eating. Inherent pressures regarding appearance and performance were associated with and explained a significant portion of the variance in eating disorder symptom scores, while dancing experience appeared to attenuate this association, although the cross-sectional design of this study precludes conclusions regarding the direction of this effect.