TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of the Risk of Exercise Addiction Based on a New Classification
T2 - A Cross-Sectional Study in 15 Countries
AU - Chhabra, Bhavya
AU - Granziol, Umberto
AU - Griffiths, Mark D.
AU - Zandonai, Thomas
AU - Landolfi, Emilio
AU - Solmi, Marco
AU - Zou, Liye
AU - Yang, Peiying
AU - Lichtenstein, Mia Beck
AU - Stoll, Oliver
AU - Akimoto, Takayuki
AU - Cantù-Berrueto, Abril
AU - Larios, Angelica
AU - Egorov, Aleksei Y.
AU - de la Vega Marcos, Ricardo
AU - Alpay, Merve
AU - Nazlıgül, Merve Denizci
AU - Yildirim, Mustafa
AU - Trott, Mike
AU - Portman, Robert M.
AU - Szabo, Attila
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Exercise addiction is widely studied, but an official clinical diagnosis does not exist for this behavioral addiction. Earlier research using various screening instruments examined the absolute scale values while investigating the disorder. The Exercise Addiction Inventory-3 (EAI-3) was recently developed with two subscales, one denoting health-relevant exercise and the other addictive tendencies. The latter has different cutoff values for leisure exercisers and elite athletes. Therefore, the present 15-country study (n = 3,760) used the EAI-3 to classify the risk of exercise addiction (REA), but only if the participant reported having had a negative exercise-related experience. Based on this classification, the prevalence of REA was 9.5% in the sample. No sex differences, and few cross-national differences were found. However, collectivist countries reported greater REA in various exercise contexts than individualist countries. Moreover, the REA among athletes was (i) twice as high as leisure exercisers, (ii) higher in organized than self-planned exercises, irrespective of athletic status, and (iii) higher among those who exercised for skill/mastery reasons than for health and social reasons, again irrespective of athletic status. Eating disorders were more frequent among REA-affected individuals than in the rest of the sample. These results do not align with recent theoretical arguments claiming that exercise addiction is unlikely to be fostered in organized sports. The present study questions the current research framework for understanding exercise addiction and offers a new alternative to segregate self-harming exercise from passionate overindulgence in athletic life.
AB - Exercise addiction is widely studied, but an official clinical diagnosis does not exist for this behavioral addiction. Earlier research using various screening instruments examined the absolute scale values while investigating the disorder. The Exercise Addiction Inventory-3 (EAI-3) was recently developed with two subscales, one denoting health-relevant exercise and the other addictive tendencies. The latter has different cutoff values for leisure exercisers and elite athletes. Therefore, the present 15-country study (n = 3,760) used the EAI-3 to classify the risk of exercise addiction (REA), but only if the participant reported having had a negative exercise-related experience. Based on this classification, the prevalence of REA was 9.5% in the sample. No sex differences, and few cross-national differences were found. However, collectivist countries reported greater REA in various exercise contexts than individualist countries. Moreover, the REA among athletes was (i) twice as high as leisure exercisers, (ii) higher in organized than self-planned exercises, irrespective of athletic status, and (iii) higher among those who exercised for skill/mastery reasons than for health and social reasons, again irrespective of athletic status. Eating disorders were more frequent among REA-affected individuals than in the rest of the sample. These results do not align with recent theoretical arguments claiming that exercise addiction is unlikely to be fostered in organized sports. The present study questions the current research framework for understanding exercise addiction and offers a new alternative to segregate self-harming exercise from passionate overindulgence in athletic life.
KW - Athletes
KW - Collectivist nation
KW - Exercise addiction
KW - Exercise Addiction Inventory
KW - Individualist nation
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U2 - 10.1007/s11469-024-01322-z
DO - 10.1007/s11469-024-01322-z
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85195700374
SN - 1557-1874
JO - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
JF - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
ER -