title: Compulsive exercise: the role of personality, psychological morbidity, and disordered eating.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Compulsive exercise has been closely linked with eating disorders, and has been widely reported in both clinical and nonclinical settings. It has been shown to have a negative impact on eating disorder treatment and outcome. However, the risk factors for compulsive exercise have not been examined. This study aimed to provide a first step in identifying potential cross-sectional predictors of compulsive exercise.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample consisted of 1,488 male and female adolescents, aged 12-14 years old, recruited from schools in the United Kingdom. Participants completed measures of compulsive exercise, personality, psychological morbidity, and disordered eating attitudes during a school class period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple stepwise regressions showed that the strongest cross-sectional predictors of compulsive exercise were a drive for thinness, perfectionism, and obsessive-compulsiveness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results are discussed in terms of the role that personal factors may play in the development of compulsive exercise.
authors.affiliation: Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK.
authors.forename: Huw
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goodwin
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haycraft
authors.forename: Anne-Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003192:Compulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004328:Drive; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D012307:Risk Factors; D013851:Thinness