{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,18]],"date-time":"2026-06-18T06:52:16Z","timestamp":1781765536725,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]],"date-time":"2026-06-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781222400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Special Account for Research Grants of the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: This study examined weight pressures and symptoms of eating disorders in professional modern dancers. Methods: Eighty-six female dancers (age: 20.7 \u00b1 2.5 y, dancing experience: 14.2 \u00b1 4.4 y) completed the Eating Attitudes Test 26 (EAT-26), the Weight-Pressures in Sport inventory for females (WPS-F), and provided information on their dance lessons. Results: Twenty-five dancers (29.07%) scored \u226520 in EAT-26. Positive associations were found between EAT-26 and its subscales with WPS-F and its subscales (r = 0.217 to 0.600, p \u02c2 0.05). Negative associations were found between age and dancing experience with the EAT-26 score and its subscales Dieting and Bulimia and Food Preoccupation (r = \u22120.286 to \u22120.373, p \u02c2 0.001) and between body weight and BMI with Oral Control (r = \u22120.300 to \u22120.372, p \u02c2 0.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that Pressures regarding Appearance and Performance, age, and dancing experience accounted for 38.3% of the variance in EAT-26 (p \u02c2 0.001), with age and training experience showing a negative coefficient. Moderation analysis showed that dancing experience moderates the relationship between Pressures regarding Appearance and Performance and eating disorder symptoms (interaction b = \u22120.329, p = 0.040). Conclusions: Professional female dancers are at elevated risk for disordered eating. Inherent pressures regarding appearance and performance were associated with and explained a significant portion of the variance in eating disorder symptom scores, while dancing experience appeared to attenuate this association, although the cross-sectional design of this study precludes conclusions regarding the direction of this effect.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu18121910","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T03:01:27Z","timestamp":1781492487000},"page":"1910","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Striving to Be Thin: Weight Pressures and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Professional Young Female Modern Dancers"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Anastasia","family":"Donti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ioli","family":"Panidi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3382-0438","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gregory C.","family":"Bogdanis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dimitra-Anastasia","family":"Kanna","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vasiliki","family":"Gaspari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olyvia","family":"Donti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Physical Education & Sport Science, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, 17237 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"475","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0029-1202821","article-title":"Fitness in contemporary dance: A systematic review","volume":"30","author":"Angioi","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. 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