| Little research has been conducted on males with eating disorders and even less research conducted on male athletes and eating disorders; therefore, research on eating disorders and the male athletic population is needed particularly on male wrestlers. This study is a qualitative investigation, exploring factors that may influence eating behaviors among varsity college male wrestlers. This study captured the lived experience of varsity male wrestlers as related to eating disorders behaviors. A total of ten, varsity Division One college male wrestlers were interviewed for this study. The participants were from two different colleges, located in the northeast of the United States. There were four major themes and three minor themes that emerged from the interviews as well as additional finding that also proved to be significant to the study. Results indicated that wrestling was the main reason the participants engaged in eating disorder behaviors. However, the two most common factors that influenced the participants to engage in eating disorder behaviors were, learning their eating disorder behaviors through observation and the negative impact of a weight-focused sport. Other important factors mentioned, were group-think mentality, unhealthy family patterns on food, weight, and exercise, and lastly perfectionism. Some other factors, also, revealed by a smaller number of participants included the pressure of disappointing others, losing wrestling competitions, and prevention of eating disorder behaviors. What current literature and this study suggest is that eating disorders behaviors do exist among NCAA college male athletes. This current study correlated with existing literature, which implies that there are many factors that can influence eating disorder behaviors in the male athletic population. |
