Cross-cultural validation of an expanded Exercise Addiction Inventory: A preliminary protocol report

Background and aims. In the last thirty years, the continuously increasing number of studies investigating Exercise Addiction (EA) stimulated interest in developing instruments assessing the risk of exercise addiction (REA). One widely used tool is the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) because it is a brief, easy-to-use, time-saving, and psychometrically validated tool. However, its items based on the Components Model of Addiction still lack some reoccurring symptoms associated with exercise addiction. This protocol report outlines the methods of developing and validating an expanded version of the EAI (EAI-3) in a large international sample.Methods. The EAI-3 will be administered to over 5000 regular exercisers in 15 languages through an online survey. The survey will also include questions from the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, the SCOFF questionnaire, and the Ten Item Personality Inventory. We will investigate the factorial structure of the EAI-3 through confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, we will test EAI-3’s measurement invariance across languages and gender. Finally, we aim to find a standard cutoff point for at-risk exercisers. Expected results. We expect to obtain a good fit of the EAI-3 structure and general measurement invariance. In addition, we expect associations with another EA measure and the other measures of mental health assessed in the study.Discussion and conclusions. We expect that the results will support an assessment tool useful in measuring the REA with greater accuracy and exhibiting reliability across gender and language (culture).

The Effects of Physical Exercise on Mental Health: From Cognitive Improvements to Risk of Addiction

(1) Background: we aimed to investigate the effects of physical activity on cognitive functions and deficits of healthy population and other needy groups. Secondly, we investigated the relation between healthy habits and psychopathological risks. Finally, we investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on exercise addiction and possible associated disorders. (2) Methods: From April 2021 to October 2021, we conducted a review aimed at identifying the effects of physical exercise on mental health, from cognitive improvements to risk of addiction; we searched for relevant studies on PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINHAL. (3) Results: For the first purpose, results indicated multiple effects such as better precision and response speed in information processing tasks on healthy populations; improvement of executive functions, cognitive flexibility and school performance in children; improvement of attention and executive functions and less hyperactivity and impulsiveness on children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); improvement of executive and global functions on adults; improvement of overall cognitive functioning on patients with schizophrenic spectrum disorder or bipolar disorder. Data also demonstrated that exercise addiction seems to be related to low levels of education, low self-esteem, eating disorders and body dysmorphisms. Eventually, it was found that people with lower traits and intolerance of uncertainty show a strong association between COVID-19 anxiety and compulsive exercise and eating disorder. (4) Conclusions: these findings underline on one side the beneficial effects of physical activity on cognitive function in healthy individuals in a preventive and curative key, while on the other side the importance of an adequate evaluation of psychological distress and personality characteristics associated with exercise addiction.

Model fit and reliability of the Hungarian version of the Revised Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI-R-HU)

The Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) is a brief validated instrument adopted by many to assess the risk of exercise addiction. Its revised version (the EAI-R) has been recently validated in English with a predominantly male sample. The current work examined the model fit, validity and reliability of the Hungarian version of the EAI-R (EAI-R-HU). This cross-sectional study was conducted online. A convenience sample of regular exercisers (n = 253) completed the EAI-R-HU and answered demographic questions. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a good model fit for the Hungarian version of the instrument. The internal reliability of the EAI-R-HU was (Cronbach’s α) .71. Considering the top 20% of the EAI-R-HU scores, 5.1% of the sample was at risk of exercise addiction. Team exercisers did not differ from individual exercisers in the risk of exercise addiction. Age and exercise characteristics predicted weakly but statistically significantly the risk of exercise addiction. The EAI-R-HU possesses a good model fit, and its internal reliability is acceptable. These findings complement the original revision of the EAI-R, based on a largely (87.7%) male sample compared to the current research primarily based on female participants (76.7%). While cultural differences might exist, the present results encourage the use of the EAI-R with women too and with Hungarian samples, in general.A Testedzésfüggőség Kérdőív (EAI) egy rövid, validált eszköz, amelyet a testedzésfüggőség kockázatának felmérésére használnak. Az angol nyelvű módosított változatát (EAI-R) nemrégiben egy többségében férfiakból álló mintán validálták. Jelen kutatás a magyar változat (EAI-R-HU) egyfaktoros elméleti struktúrájának illeszkedését, validitását, és a kérdőív belső megbízhatóságát vizsgálta. A hozzáférhetőségi mintavétellel zajló adatgyűjtés online történt. Rendszeresen edző önkéntesek (n = 253) kitöltötték a módosított EAI-t (EAI-R-HU) és megválaszolták a demográfiai kérdéseket. A megerősítő faktoranalízis jó modellillesztést mutatott, a skála belső megbízhatósága (Cronbach-α) pedig 0,71 volt. Az EAI-R-HU pontszámok felső 20%-át figyelembe véve, a jelen minta 5,14%-a volt feltételezhetően a testedzésfüggőség kockázatának kitéve. A csoportban edzők nem különböztek az egyéni edzést végzőktől a testedzésfüggőség kockázatát illetően. Az életkor és a testmozgás egyes jellemzői gyengén, de statisztikailag szignifikánsan prognosztizálták a testedzésfüggőség kockázatát. Az eredmények alapján az EAI-R-HU jó modellalkalmazással rendelkezik és a belső megbízhatósága elfogadható. Ezek a megállapítások kiegészítik az angol EAI-R változatát, amely nagyrészt (87,7%) férfi minta alapján jött létre, szemben a jelen kutatással, amely elsősorban női résztvevőkön alapszik (76,7%). Bár létezhetnek kulturális különbségek, a jelenlegi eredmények ösztönzik az EAI-R alkalmazását a nőknél is és az EAI-R-HU felhasználását magyar kutatásokban.

Mental Disorders in Individuals With Exercise Addiction—A Cross-Sectional Study

Background and Aims: Exercise addiction has not yet been designated as an addictive disorder in the DSM-5 due to a lack of detailed research. In particular, associations with other psychiatric diagnoses have received little attention. In this study, individuals with a possible exercise addiction are clinically assessed, in order to establish a profile of co-occurring psychiatric disorders in individuals with exercise addiction.Methods: One hundred and fifty-six individuals who reported exercising more than 10 h a week, and continued to do so despite illness or injury, were recruited for the study. Those who met the cut-off of the Exercise Dependence Scale (n = 32) were invited to participate in a screening with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5-CV) and personality disorders (SCID-5-PD). Additionally, an interview based on the DSM-5 criteria of non-substance-related addictive disorders was conducted to explore the severity of exercise addiction symptoms.Results: 75% of participants fulfilled the criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder. Depressive disorders (56.3%), personality disorders (46.9%) and obsessive-compulsive disorders (31.3%) were the most common disorders. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between the number of psychiatric disorders and the severity of exercise addiction (r = 0.549, p = 0.002).Discussion: The results showed a variety of mental disorders in individuals with exercise addiction and a correlation between the co-occurrence of mental disorders and the severity of exercise addiction. Exercise addiction differs from other addictive und substance use disorders, as obsessive-compulsive (Cluster C), rather than impulsive (Cluster B) personality traits were most commonly identified.Conclusions: Our results underscore the importance of clinical diagnostics, and indicate that treatment options for individuals with exercise addiction are required. However, the natural history and specific challenges of exercise addiction must be studied in more detail.

Determining The Relationship Between Exercise Dependence And Narcissism Levels Of Athletes

There exist a positive relationship between exercise and narcissistic personality. Athletes who develop narcissistic personality traits wanted to be trained continuously to be successful. As a result, they become addicted to exercise. Athletes with narcissistic personalities should seek help from experts so that they do not become addicted to exercise. Narcissistic people tend to be addicted to exercise. Narcissistic athletes should be constantly checked by their trainers to prevent them from becoming exercise addicts.There are currently limited investigations that have examined the relationship between narcissistic personality traits and exercise dependence. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between exercise dependence levels and narcissistic personalities of male athletes in wrestling, weight lifting, and body building. In this study, narcissistic personality inventory and exercise dependence scale were used as a data collection tool. Statistical software (SPSS 20 version) was used to analyze the data. It was observed that the data is normally distributed and homogeneous. Descriptive statistical analysis and Spearman correlation analysis were used to determine the direction and severity of the relationship between the variables. The study group consisted of 25 wrestlers, 23 weight-lifters, and 14 bodybuilders who achieved the first 3 ranks in Turkey Championships. As a result of descriptive statistical analysis, dropping exercise scores of athletes were as 3.866, sustainability scores were as 2.806, tolerance scores were as 4.634, lack of control scores was as 1.634, decrease in other activities scores was as 1.581, duration scores were as 4,796, intention effect scores were as 2.753, total exercise addiction scores were as 3.153 and narcissism scores were determined as 8,048. At the end of the study, it was determined that the athletes under the sample had a relationship between narcissism and exercise addiction levels. According to descriptive statistical analysis, wrestlers were observed to get the highest scores in lack of control, sustainability, dropping exercise sub-dimensions.