PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Stefanie Lynn Jensen
MA-Research
May 1999

The Relationship between Perfectionism, Eating Disorders, and Participation Motivation Among Female Distance Runners

    This exploratory study examined perfectionism and eating disorders among female Varsity collegiate distance runners, recreational distance runners, and non-runners.  The Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990) was used to measure overall perfectionism and the dimensions of Personal Standards and Parental Expectations, and the Drive For Thinness subscale of the Eating Disorders Inventory (Garner, Olmstead, & Polivy, 1983) was used to assess disordered eating.  The current study also sought to investigate the motives for participation as cited by the Varsity and recreational runners.  The Participation Motivation Questionnaire-revised (Gill, Gross, & Huddleston, 1983) assessed reasons for participation, with a focus on the dimensions of Achievement/Status, Fitness and Fun/Friendship.  The hypotheses for perfectionism and eating disorders predicted that the Varsity runners would attain the highest scores on the measurements as compared to the recreational runners and non-runners.  In contrast to the predictions, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the non-runners had significantly higher scores on the Parental Expectations and Drive for Thinness measures.  In addition, a post-hoc analysis detected that the non-runners had a significantly higher score on the Eating Disorders Inventory subscale of Body Dissatisfaction as compared to both groups of runners.  The hypotheses for participation motivation were partially confirmed; a significant difference was found between the Varsity and recreational runners on the dimension of Achievement/Status, with the Varsity runners placing greater importance on this subscale as a reason for participation in distance running.  Alternative explanations for the unconfirmed hypotheses, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.

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