Date of Award

Spring 5-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

EVMS School of Health Professions

Program/Concentration

Art Therapy

Committee Director

Sarah Deaver

Abstract

The demands of both lean and non-lean sports upon male athletes can lead to body image dissatisfaction and eating disorders. This study explored whether the Human Figure Drawing (HFD) is a valid method for assessing male college athletes’ body image. A total of 86 male athletes who were competitive on a lean (cross-country or wrestling) or non-lean (football or ice hockey) sport participated in the study. The score recorded on the Male Body Attitude Scale (MBAS) (Tylka, Bergeron, & Schwartz, 2005), a 24-question survey administered to each participant, focused specifically on assessing muscularity, body fat, and height attitudes of these athletes. It was hypothesized that there would be differences in MBAS scores between the two groups and that the athletes in lean sports would be significantly more dissatisfied with their bodies than those in the non-lean sports. It was also hypothesized that there would be differences in the lean and non-lean athletes’ HFDs, and there would be a relationship between HFDs and MBAS scores. The hypothesis that there would be differences between the MBAS scores of the two groups was supported, but the hypothesis that those in lean sports would be more dissatisfied with their bodies than those in non-lean sports was not supported. Results of content analyses of the HFDs suggested that there were no strong relationships between the HFDs and MBAS scores or between HFDs and status as a lean or non-lean athlete.

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