title: Exercise Addiction in Athletes and Leisure Exercisers: The Moderating Role of Passion.
abstract: Background and aims Recently, empirical research has linked obsessive passion to the etiology of exercise addiction, and the conceptual reason behind the fact that the latter is more prevalent in athletes than leisure exercisers has been challenged. The aim of this study was to determine the link between exercise addiction and harmonious passion, obsessive passion, and dedication to sports, in the context of athletic levels. Method A sample comprised of low- and high-level competitive athletes and non-competitive leisure exercisers (n = 313) was examined, in a cross-sectional design, in which participants completed the Spanish validated versions of the Exercise Addiction Inventory (Sicilia, Alías-García, Ferriz, & Moreno-Murcia, 2013) and Passion Scale (Chamarro et al., 2015). Results Obsessive passion and dedication to sports emerged as strong predictors of exercise addiction. Competitive athletes scored higher than leisure exercisers on all measures. Athletes competing at low and high levels only differed in dedication to their sports from each other. Team-sports athletes reported greater harmonious and obsessive passions, and dedication to sports, but not different exercise addictions, than people taking part in individual sports. Conclusions The concept of exercise addiction is not a plain and independent construct and may not reflect a psychological dysfunction in the athletic population. Athletes could interpret exercise addiction screening-items differently from non-athletes. Athletes in team sports report greater passion and dedication than those practicing individual sports.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Movement, Autonomous University of Madrid , Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de la Vega
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki , Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Irini S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Parastatidou
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid , Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruíz-Barquín
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University , Budapest, Hungary.|Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University , Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szabo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology*; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004644:Emotions; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009770:Obsessive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012919:Social Behavior; D013030:Spain
keywords: commitment to exercise; competition; elite athlete; exercise dependence; sport