# Explicit and implicit affective attitudes of female athletes towards different body sizes

## TL;DR

This study explores how female athletes feel about different body sizes, finding that explicit attitudes are more positive toward lower BMI body types.

## Contribution

The study is the first to examine both explicit and implicit affective attitudes toward body sizes in female athletes across lean and non-lean sports.

## Key findings

- Female athletes showed more positive explicit attitudes toward lower BMI body sizes.
- No significant differences in implicit attitudes were found between lean and non-lean sport athletes.
- Body image satisfaction was predicted by weight-ideal discrepancy, self-compassion, and eating disorder risk, not by explicit or implicit attitudes.

## Abstract

The present cross-sectional study is the first to investigate the relationship between implicit and explicit attitudes toward different body sizes in female athletes of different sport types. Second, it was examined if these attitudes are, among other factors, related to body satisfaction in these women. In total, 146 female athletes between 18 and 65 from lean and non-lean sports participated in the study, measuring explicit and implicit affective attitudes using pictures of women with different body sizes. Eating disorder risk, the assessment of the image of the own body, and self-compassion were also asked. Results showed that female athletes had more positive explicit affective attitudes towards pictures of individuals whose body sizes correspond to lower body mass indices ranges than higher ones. No differences were found for implicit attitudes. Affective explicit and implicit attitudes for different body sizes showed no significant difference between lean and non-lean sports athletes. Explicit and implicit attitudes did not predict body image satisfaction, but the actual weight-ideal discrepancy, self-compassion, and risk of eating disorders did. Due to the high relevance of body image satisfaction for society and health, future studies should address the aspects of self-compassion and the risk of eating disorders in more detail.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-025-02567-6.