Perfectionism, social physique anxiety and disordered eating: a comparison of male and female elite athletes

Objective: To examine the relationship between Positive and Negative Perfectionism and Social Physique Anxiety (SPA) and the extent to which these two variables predict disturbed eating attitudes in male and female elite athletes. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Method: Athletes ( n=316) completed measures of Positive and Negative Perfectionism, SPA, disordered eating and social desirability. Zero- and first-order (partial) correlations were examined to determine the relationship between Positive and Negative Perfectionism and SPA. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine how two individual difference variables, perfectionism and SPA, relate and contribute to disordered eating. Results: For both male and female athletes, Negative Perfectionism was significantly related to SPA. For males, Positive Perfectionism made a small, yet significant, contribution (i.e. 6%) in predicting disturbed eating attitudes. For females, Negative Perfectionism and SPA uniquely and in combination significantly contributed 41% of the variance in the prediction of disturbed eating attitudes. Discussion: These findings suggest that Negative Perfectionism is strongly linked with SPA and that, in females, SPA is an additional psychosocial variable to consider in the relationship between Negative Perfectionism and disordered eating.