Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Weight loss;

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to assess motivation factors from a cognitive/social learning model for choosing a particular dieting style based on athletic status. One hundred ten athletes and 119 nonathletes were asked to fill out a series of questionnaires which included: A demographics inventory, an experimental questionnaire containing eight dieting methods (5 pathogenic dieting methods and 3 nonpathogenic dieting methods), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Bulimia Test. The significant findings were: (a) nonathletes smoked to lose weight more often than athletes and athletes exercised to lose weight more often than nonathletes; (b) nonathletes were more likely to reduce caloric intake and fast to improve appearance than were athletes, and, neither athletes nor nonathletes appeared to choose a weight loss method for the purpose of improving athletic performance; (c) smoking and vomiting among the athletes was more common among the underclassmen than the upperclassmen and the nonathletes did not follow this pattern, post hoc analyses did not support group differences for vomiting, but did indicate that the junior/senior nonathletes were more likely to select smoking as their weight loss choice than their freshmen counterparts and the sophomore and junior/senior athletes; (d) both athletes and nonathletes were more likely to use diuretics, diet pills, smoking, and vomiting to lose weight if they knew of others trying those weight loss methods; (e) all pathogenic weight loss methods (i.e., diuretics, laxatives, smoking, vomiting, and diet pills) were less likely to be used by both athletes and nonathletes if they perceived those methods to be dangerous. The implications of these results for future investigations are discussed.

Year of Submission

1995

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Francisco X. Barrios

Second Advisor

Martha Shelton Smith

Third Advisor

David Whitsett

Comments

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Date Original

1995

Object Description

1 PDF file (96 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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