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December 1, 2004
Healthy Lifestyle Curricula Effective in Changing
Unwanted Behavior in Individuals on Female Sports Teams
Findings of a study have indicated that curricula, which focus on changing unhealthy
behaviors in girls on school sports teams, are effective in preventing substance use and
abuse. The goal of study was determine the efficacy of a healthy lifestyle curriculum on
high school females on sports teams. Authors also evaluated the program’s affect on
the prevention of eating disorders and the use of body-shaping drugs.
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Current research has indicated that social pressures of society, such as thinness,
compounded with demands to perform, drives many young females on sports teams
to use diet and sports enhancement pills. It has also linked eating disorders such as
anorexia and bulimia nervosa to the desire to excel in athletics in females.
A similar study with high school males, using the ATLAS (Adolescents Training and
Learning to Avoid Steroids) program, reported significantly improved nutrition behaviors
and exercise self-efficacy, while reducing use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and
performance-enhancing supplements.
Methods
Investigators recruited 928 students from 40 high school sports teams in northwest
Oregon and southwest Washington for participation in the ATHENA (Athletes Targeting
Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives) Program. The mean age of the subjects was
15.4 years. 92.2% of the participants were white. Before implementation of the syllabus,
participants completed a survey framed around the use of substances, prevalence of
eating disorders and psychiatric conditions. Upon completion of the curriculum,
responses to a second questionnaire were compared against those of the first
assessment using the Generalized Estimating Equation framework. A same-aged
control group was also utilized.
Subjects completed eight weekly 45-minute sessions during their regularly scheduled
meetings. The lessons were based on group work and were child-centered. Themes
included sport nutrition, effective exercise training, drug use and other unhealthy
behaviors’ effects on sport performance, media images of females, and depression
prevention.
Results
Subjects in the ATHENA program reported considerably lower rates of diet pill,
amphetamine, anabolic steroid, and sport supplement use than control group members.
They were more likely to wear a car seatbelt and engage in less sexual activity. They
were also less likely to become the passenger of car whose driver had recently
consumed alcohol.
Participants in the program also reported positive increases in willpower and future
intention towards using substances and leading a healthy lifestyle; utilization of refusal
skills, vomiting to lose weight, belief in the media, as well as drug and tobacco use were
among the behaviors indicated.
Conclusions
Authors stated that sport teams are effective natural vehicles for gender-specific,
peer-led curricula to promote healthy lifestyles and to deter disordered eating,
athletic-enhancing substance use, and other health-harming behaviors.
Complete findings of the study appear in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine, 2004;158:1043-1049.
Author(s) and Inquiries:
Correspondence: Diane L. Elliot, MD, Oregon Health & Science University, CR110, 3181
SW Sam Jackson Park Rd, Portland, OR 97239-3098 (elliotd@ohsu.edu).
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