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Changes in body image perceptions upon leaving elite sport: The retired female athlete paradox
journal contribution
posted on 2017-09-12, 09:53 authored by Anthony PapathomasAnthony Papathomas, Trent A. Petrie, Carolyn PlateauCarolyn PlateauLittle is known about the evolution of female athlete body image into retirement. In this study, 218 retired athletes from aesthetic sports answered a series of closed and open ended questions regarding bodily changes since retirement. Years since retirement was unrelated to current weight status (e.g., underweight, normal weight), what they were doing about current weight (e.g., lose weight), and satisfaction with current weight (all p’s > .69). Overall, 74.3% thought they were normal weight, yet 55% were dissatisfied with their weight and 59.6% were trying to lose weight. A rigorous thematic analysis of the qualitative data yielded 4 core themes that characterized participants’ experiences: 1) A move towards the feminine ideal; 2) Feeling fat, flabby and ashamed; 3) A continued commitment to a former self; and 4) Conflicting ideals: The retired female athlete paradox. Perceived muscle loss was considered indicative of either increased fat (dissatisfaction) or increased femininity (satisfaction). For some retired athletes, the satisfaction brought on by newfound femininity was complicated by a coinciding and conflicting commitment to a muscular athletic physique. Practical applications include strategies for sport psychologists to better support athletes in coping with the body changes that occur on retirement from elite sport.
Funding
This study was supported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Sport Science Institute.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Sport, Exercise, and Performance PsychologyCitation
PAPATHOMAS, A., PETRIE, T.A. and PLATEAU, C.R., 2017. Changes in body image perceptions upon leaving elite sport: The retired female athlete paradox. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 7 (1), pp.30-45.Publisher
© American Psychological AssociationVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-09-05Publication date
2017Notes
© American Psychological Association, 2017. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000111.ISSN
2157-3905Publisher version
Language
- en