Table 1.
Athlete demographic and sports-specific characteristics.
| Participant Characteristics | Total (n = 165) | Female (n = 112) | Male (n = 53) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean a | SD a | Mean a | SD a | Mean a | SD a | |
| Age (years) | 20.0 a | (5.0) a | 20.0 a | (4.0) a | 21.0 a | (4.0) a |
| Athletes 16–19 y N (%) | 71 (43.0) | 53 (47.3) | 18 (34.0) | |||
| Athletes > 20 y N (%) | 94 (57.0) | 59 (52.7) | 35 (66.0) | |||
| Body mass ^ (kg) | 73.6 | 12.0 | 70.9 *** | 11.1 | 79.2 *** | 12.1 |
| Stature ^ (cm) | 178.0 a | (13.5) a | 175.0 a*** | (13.0) a | 182.0 *** | 10.7 |
| BMI (kg·m2) | 23.1 | 2.4 | 22.8 * | 2.4 | 23.8 * | 2.1 |
| Highest education levelN (%) | ||||||
| Secondary school † | 121 (73.3) | 82 (73.2) | 39 (73.6) | |||
| University/TAFE | 44 (26.7) | 30 (26.8) | 14 (26.4) | |||
| Primary sportN (%) | ||||||
| Team sports 1 | 113 (68.5) | 80 (71.4) | 33 (62.3) | |||
| Individual sports 2 | 52 (31.5) | 32 (28.6) | 20 (37.7) | |||
| Representative calibreN (%) | ||||||
| State | 5 (3.0) | 5 (4.5) | 0 (0) | |||
| National | 57 (34.5) | 39 (34.8) | 18 (34.0) | |||
| International N (%) | 103 (62.4) | 68 (60.7) | 35 (66.0) | |||
| Junior international | 15 (9.1) | 10 (8.9) | 5 (9.4) | |||
| Age international | 38 (23.0) | 23 (20.5) | 15 (28.3) | |||
| Open international | 50 (30.3) | 35 (31.2) | 15 (28.3) | |||
| Stage of training cycleN (%) | ||||||
| Pre-season | 75 (45.4) | 51 (45.5) | 24 (45.3) | |||
| In season | 27 (16.4) | 17 (15.2) | 10 (18.9) | |||
| Off season | 51 (30.9) | 38 (33.9) | 13 (24.5) | |||
| Injured/rehabilitation | 12 (7.3) | 6 (5.4) | 6 (11.3) | |||
| Weekly training hoursN (%) | ||||||
| 0–4 h/week | 3 (1.8) | 1 (0.9) | 2 (3.8) | |||
| 5–11 h/week | 41 (24.8) | 26 (23.2) | 15 (28.3) | |||
| 12–15 h/week | 58 (35.2) | 45 (40.2) | 13 (24.5) | |||
| 16–20 h/week | 45 (27.3) | 30 (26.8) | 15 (28.3) | |||
| 20+ h/week | 18 (10.9) | 10 (8.9) | 8 (15.1) | |||
ADI, Athlete Diet Index; SD, standard deviation; y, years; BMI, body mass index; TAFE, Technical and Further Education (an Australian tertiary education system offering courses mainly in technical and vocational subjects); a median and interquartile range (IQR) values reported for non-normally distributed demographic data; ^ self-reported body mass and stature; † secondary school students usually turn 18 years of age in their final year of secondary school in Australia; 1 team sports included basketball, cricket, hockey, netball, and water polo; 2 individual sports included artistic swimming, cycling, equestrian, golf, rowing, tennis, and track and field; p value applies to the difference in demographics between female and male athletes, * p < 0.05; *** p < 0.001.