{"doi":"10.1002/eat.23415","title":"Comparing eating disorder characteristics and treatment in self‐identified competitive athletes and non‐athletes from the National Eating Disorders Association online screening tool","abstract":"OBJECTIVE: We compared eating disorder (ED) characteristics and treatment seeking behaviors between self-identified competitive athletes and non-athletes in a large, community-based sample. METHOD: During the 2018 National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, 23,920 respondents, 14.7% of whom identified as competitive athletes, completed the National Eating Disorders Association online screen. Data were collected on demographics, disordered eating behaviors, probable ED diagnosis/risk, treatment history, and intent to seek treatment. RESULTS: The sample was predominantly White (81.8%), female (90.3%), and between 13 and 24 years (82.6%). Over 86% met criteria for an ED/subthreshold ED, and of those, only 2.5% were in treatment. Suicidal ideation was reported in over half of the sample. Athletes reported a significantly greater likelihood of engaging in and more frequent excessive exercise episodes than non-athletes. Athletes also reported a significantly lower likelihood of engaging in and less frequent binge-eating episodes compared with non-athletes. Athletes were more likely to screen positive for an ED/subthreshold ED than non-athletes, but percentages across all probable ED diagnoses were similar. No significant differences between athletes and non-athletes emerged on treatment history or intention to seek treatment post-screen (less than 30%). DISCUSSION: Although the distribution of probable ED diagnoses was similar in athletes and non-athletes, symptom profiles related to disordered eating behavior engagement and frequency may differ. Athletes may be less likely to seek treatment due to stigma, accessibility, and sport-specific barriers. Future work should directly connect survey respondents to tailored treatment tools and increase motivation to seek treatment.","journal":"International Journal of Eating Disorders","year":2020,"id":57549,"datarank":1.5928881583585248,"base_score":4.3694478524670215,"endowment":4.3694478524670215,"self_citation_contribution":0.6554171778700533,"citation_network_contribution":0.9374709804884717,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6554171778700533,"citer_contribution":0.9374709804884717,"corpus_percentile":86.96526649648024,"corpus_rank":1686,"citation_count":78,"citer_count":44,"citers_with_citation_signal":30,"citers_with_endowment":30,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":true,"is_dataset_confidence":0.7044,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":235153,"name":"Laura M. Thornton","orcid":"0000-0001-9384-7988","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263608,"name":"Ellen E. Fitzsimmons‐Craft","orcid":"0000-0001-7064-3835","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263611,"name":"Katherine N. Balantekin","orcid":"0000-0002-6760-2714","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":300957,"name":"Lauren Smolar","orcid":"0000-0002-8160-5882","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":303081,"name":"Claire Mysko","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263620,"name":"Denise E. Wilfley","orcid":"0000-0002-3599-8689","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":263609,"name":"C. Barr Taylor","orcid":"0000-0002-4564-6548","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":300958,"name":"J.D. DeFreese","orcid":"0000-0003-3233-0699","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":300959,"name":"Anna M. Bardone‐Cone","orcid":"0000-0002-1855-6328","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":112587,"name":"Cynthia M. Bulik","orcid":"0000-0001-7772-3264","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":235154,"name":"Rachael E. Flatt","orcid":"0000-0002-2661-7987","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":55,"raw_metadata":{"citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-18T21:06:48.611399Z","pmid":"33252150","pmcid":"PMC8006447","fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}