Protective and risk factors in exercise addiction: a series of moderated mediation analyses

Gori, A, Topino, E and Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2021. Protective and risk factors in exercise addiction: a series of moderated mediation analyses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18 (18): 9706. ISSN 1661-7827

Preview

Text 1471995_Griffiths.pdf - Published version Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

For a minority of individuals, exercise may become excessive and lead to an addictive behaviour. To better understand the processes by which exercise could become an addiction, the present study examined the risk and protective factors of exercise addiction among regular exercisers, by investigating the role of drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, body image concerns, and self-esteem. A sample of 319 Italian regular exercisers (Mage = 30.78 years, SD = 11.98) completed the Italian versions of the Exercise Addiction Inventory, Eating Disorder Inventory-3 Referral Form, Body Image Concern Inventory, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Data were analyzed by implementing a series of moderated mediations. Drive for thinness, bulimia, and body dissatisfaction were positively associated with exercise addiction. An indirect path was found in each of these relationships, which included the mediation of body image concerns, as well as a significant moderation of self-esteem in the associations between drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, and the mediator. High self-esteem appeared to be a protective factor. The higher the level of self-esteem, the less indirect the effects of thinness drive, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, and body image concerns were on exercise addiction. Such findings contribute to a better understanding concerning the risk and protective factors of excessive exercise, and may have important practical implications in structuring interventions to reduce risk of developing exercise addiction, as well as orienting future research

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Creators:	Gori, A., Topino, E. and Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	MDPI
Date:	15 September 2021
Volume:	18
Number:	18
ISSN:	1661-7827
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3390/ijerph18189706 DOI 1471995 Other
Rights:	© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	21 Sep 2021 11:23
Last Modified:	21 Sep 2021 11:23
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/44225

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads