Exercise Addiction in Athletes and Leisure Exercisers: The Moderating Role of Passion

Abstract

Background and aimsRecently, 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.MethodA 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).ResultsObsessive 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.ConclusionsThe 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.

Obsessive and harmonious passion in physically active Spanish and Hungarian men and women: A brief report on cultural and gender differences

“…Some research has indirectly examined gender differences in relation to passion in physical activity. These studies have generally shown that there are no gender differences in passion in exercise (De La Vega, Parastatidou, Ruiz-Barquin, & Szabo, 2016;Donahue, Rip, & Vallerand, 2009;Parastatidou et al, 2012;Stenseng, 2008), but such differences in passion related to other activities have been reported including activities such as internet use (Seguin-Levesque et al, 2003). It is possible that gender has an impact on passion in some activities, but not in others.…”

The Role of Passion in Exercise Addiction, Exercise Volume, and Exercise Intensity in Long-term Exercisers

“…In contrast, harmonious passion was not a predictor of the REA. However, De La Vega et al (2016) also reported that athletes scored higher on both obsessive and harmonious passion than leisure exercisers. Since exercise volume, in terms of the weekly hours of exercise, was greater in athletes than in leisure exercisers, the differences in passion may also be associated with exercise volume rather than athletic status.…”

“…The relationship between the REA and passion, as a function of the athletic level of competition, was investigated in a recent study examining a large sample of low-level and high-level competitive athletes, and non-competitive leisure exercisers (De La Vega et al 2016). In accord with Parastatidou et al (2014), the findings demonstrated that obsessive passion was a relatively important predictor of the REA by accounting for 37% of the total variance in it.…”

Exercise Addiction and Its Relation to Psycho-Social Aspects and Motives

“…Hence, the first hypothesis expected that athletes with the goals achievement striving and catharsis show higher EDS scores than athletes with the goals social experience, enjoyment of movement or health promotion (Hall et al, 2007;Lichtenstein et al, 2013;Tsang, & Szabo, 2003;Ogles, Masters, & Richardson, 1995). Further, the second hypothesis expected that (former) competitive athletes and athletes that have been inspired by themselves to start with their current sport show higher EDS scores (De la Vega, Parastatidou, Ruíz-Barquín, & Szabo, 2016). No differences were expected between male and female participants (Hall et al, 2007;Müller et al, 2013).…”

“…Participants furthermore reported to be engaged in 78 different sports that could be grouped into four different categories: (1) endurance sports (ES, e.g., running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, n = 166, 33.5 %), (2) team sports (TS, e.g., handball, football, volleyball, hockey, basketball, water ball, canoe polo, n = 117, 23.4 %), (3) individual sports (IS, e.g., track and field, gymnastics, diving, canoeing, martial arts, boxing, tennis, badminton, n = 141, 28.4 %), and (4) power sports (PS, e.g., weight lifting, bodybuilding, fitness training, n = 73, 14.7 %) (De la Vega et al, 2016). The category ES was further subdivided regarding their training hours: (a) less than five hours of training per week (n = 43, M ES_low = 2.6, SD = 1.1), (b) between five and nine hours of training per week (n = 67, M ES_mid = 6.3, SD = 1.4), and (c) more than ten hours of training per week (n = 56, M ES_high = 15.0, SD = 5.1).…”