(P32-007-23) Have We Moved Past the Influence of Gender and Gender Norms Over Athletes’ Food Habits in Sport? Findings From Boys and Girls Involved in Competitive High School Sports

Objectives: Sport imparts unique pressures on food habits that have been found to vary by gender in elite settings (e.g., collegiate, or high-performance teams). However, no research has explored how boys’ and girls’ (13-18 years) in competitive high-school sports food habits are affected by sport. This study explored how adolescents in high school sports perceive the role of gender, sport (e.g., coaches and teammates) and social influences (e.g., peers, parents, and media) on their food habits.

Methods: Semi-structured one-on-one interviews (n=33) with high school students were conducted of which n=25 are reported here. Bronfenbrenner’s Social-Ecological Model informed the interview probes and thematic analysis (inductive and deductive). Participants were purposefully recruited based on sport involvement and sex.

Results: Regardless of sport or gender, adolescents stated parents played a key role in their food habits by ‘regulating the home environment’. They also talked about ‘how eating out’ or ‘baking with friends,’ key aspects of peer socialization, heavily influenced their food habits. Body shape was revealed to play a gendered role; Girls highlighted how social media portrayed the ‘ideal body’ as thin, whereas boys stated it as being fit. Girls also talked about deliberate food restriction to control their own body shape, likelihood of knowing peers living with an eating disorder and verbal comments from parents or peers supporting diet culture. In contrast, boys stated that parents only expressed concerns for food habits to avoid living in a larger body. When it came to sport, athletes were more likely to discuss the role of nutrition for performance. The majority of sport nutrition was learned from coaches, but girls mentioned social media too. Finally, girls stressed how avoiding judgement from coaches or teammates on their body shape motivated their food habits. In contrast, boys only discussed altering their food habits to control body shape motivated by sport performance.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that body shape plays a critical role in adolescents’ food habits and may be rooted in social influences like media. In the context of sport, body shape can contribute to altered food habits in boys and girls but may be more damaging to girls’ well-being.

Funding Sources: University of British Columbia’s Public Scholars Initiative