Perception of Body Image Among African American Male Student Athletes

There are countless factors that could drive an athlete to disordered eating behaviors. Gender is the most obvious factor. However, other factors influence body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors aside from gender such as performance and body dissatisfaction. Few studies have examined these factors among African American college student athletes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate athlete's body image among African American male student athletes. A convenient sample of student-athletes from classes in the Department of Health and Human Performance at a small southeastern private historically black college and university was utilized in the study. The instrument consisted of a Modified version of the Body Image Questionnaire Survey (BQS). Analysis of variance was utilized to determine the differences between demographic categories and the body image questions, alpha = .05. Male student athletes reported means under 2.0 for the following questions: “Have you been so worried about your shape that you have been feeling you ought to diet?”, “Have you thought that you thighs, hips or bottom are too large for the rest of you”, “Have you avoided running because your flesh might wobble?” and “Has eating sweets, cakes, or other high calorie food made you feel fat”. Analysis of variance revealed that sophomores and juniors scored higher when compared to freshmen and seniors on has being with thin men made you feel self-conscious about your shape. Recommendations are made to further examine body image among African American male college student-athletes