Psychological and Behavioural Correlates of Dietary Intake in Adolescent Elite Female Handball Players.

Background/

Objectives

Adequate dietary intake is essential for supporting growth, health, and athletic performance in adolescent athletes. Handball is a high-intensity intermittent team sport characterised by repeated running, sprinting, jumping, and physical contact, placing substantial physiological and nutritional demands on young athletes. This study examined associations between eating behaviour dimensions, sport anxiety, resilience, and dietary intake in adolescent elite female handball players.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 74 adolescent elite female handball players; after exclusion of two dietary-intake outliers, 72 participants were included in the analyses (mean age: 15.6 ± 1.7 years; BMI: 21.2 ± 2.4 kg/m2). Eating behaviour, sport anxiety, and resilience were assessed using the TFEQ-R21, SAS-2, and CD-RISC-10, respectively. Dietary intake was estimated using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Pearson correlation and linear regression analyses were performed.

Results

Cognitive Restraint was negatively correlated with energy (r = -0.266, p = 0.024), fat (r = -0.288, p = 0.014), carbohydrate (r = -0.257, p = 0.029), and sugar intake (r = -0.255, p = 0.031). Uncontrolled Eating was positively associated with energy (β = 0.338, p = 0.030; R2 = 0.134) and fat intake (β = 0.366, p = 0.017; R2 = 0.157) in the regression analyses. Higher resilience was associated with lower sugar intake in the regression analysis (β = -0.318, p = 0.007; model R2 = 0.101) and with lower sport anxiety in the Pearson correlation analysis (r = -0.559, p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The findings indicate associations between eating behaviour dimensions, selected psychological characteristics, and dietary intake in adolescent elite female handball players. Uncontrolled Eating and Cognitive Restraint showed distinct patterns of association with dietary intake, while resilience was associated with sugar intake and sport anxiety. Given the cross-sectional and exploratory nature of the study, these findings warrant cautious interpretation and replication in larger independent samples.