The associations between childhood dance participation and adult disordered eating and related psychopathology.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between childhood dance participation and adult eating behavior and psychological health. METHODS: A total of 546 undergraduate females at a large Midwestern university completed questionnaires regarding eating behavior and associated features, depression, self-esteem, and body image. RESULTS: Women who participated in childhood dance are more likely to score higher on measures of bulimic behaviors than nondancers. In addition, childhood dancers indicated greater drive for thinness and poorer impulse control compared to nondancers. Furthermore, there was a statistical trend for childhood dancers to report greater perfectionism and a smaller ideal body mass than nondancers. There were no significant differences between dance groups on measures of depression and self-esteem. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that participating in dance as a child may influence one's eating behavior as an adult, including associated factors such as drive for thinness and impulse control and potentially perfectionism and preferred body size.

Childhood beauty pageant contestants: associations with adult disordered eating and mental health.

This study evaluated the association between childhood beauty pageants and adult disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, depression, and self-esteem. Eleven women who participated in childhood beauty pageants were matched on age and BMI with 11 non-participating women. Childhood pageant participants scored higher on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation than non-participants, and showed a trend toward greater ineffectiveness. There were no significant differences between groups on measures of bulimia, body perception, depression, and self-esteem. These findings suggest childhood beauty pageant participation may influence adult body dissatisfaction, interpersonal distrust, and impulse dysregulation, but not bulimic behaviors, body perception, depression, and self-esteem.