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).

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.

Exercise addiction in Mexico: Psychometric properties of the Exercise Addiction Inventory and risk analysis

Introduction: The consequences of exercise addiction have a physical, psychological and social impact on the sports men and women, similar to others addictions, which can cause serious health problems. In Mexico its incidence and relevance are unknown, and there is no instrument for its evaluation. This study aims to analyse the psychometric properties of the Exercise Addiction Inventory in a Mexican context and examine its relevance to different groups of people who practice sport. Method: Participants consisted of 487 people who practice physical exercise or competitive sport, aged between 18 and 52, with a mean age of 22.04. The EAI was used, and reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and factorial invariance analysis were conducted. Differences between groups of participants were also tested. Results: The results demonstrated the unifactorial structure of instrument, with satisfactory goodness of fit indices, and its factorial invariance was confirmed. The reliability obtained was adequate. In addition, significant differences were found between men and women in relation to degree of addiction, there was a higher risk for athletes compared to regular exercise goers, and 26.5% of participants obtained scores that place them at a high risk of exercise addiction. Conclusions: It is concluded that EAI is an adequate and reliable instrument, with appropriate psychometric properties. In the studied population there is an excessively high rate of participants who present a high risk of addiction, and men and athletes are the most susceptible groups to develop an exercise addiction.

Perfectionism Patterns, Dark Personality, and Exercise Addiction Trend in High-Intensity Sports

The present work tries to describe the relationships among perfectionism, dark traits of personality, and exercise addiction and according to highly intense sports. Following research on perfectionism in sport, its dysfunctional facet is based on a continuous and negative cognitive-evaluative judgement about the difficulties to achieve the accomplishment of tasks or behaviors that improve their sport performance, describing how athletes configure altered thoughts or cognitive resources in their sport experiences. The Spanish versions of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Short Dark Triad Scale, and the Exercise Addiction Inventory were applied in a sample of 462 Spanish amateur athletes (39.6% women and 60.4% men). The findings show that a more maladaptive perfectionist pattern (concern over mistakes and external criticism) is related to higher levels of dark personality traits and a greater risk of exercise addiction. However, there are no differences between runners and CrossFit users on the subject of perfectionism, dark traits, and exercise addiction scores.

Relación entre la adicción al ejercicio, el uso de dispositivos fitness y la ansiedad rasgo (Relationship between exercise addiction, use of fitness devices and trait anxiety)

El reciente auge de la tecnología y su protagonismo en el mundo del fitness han desencadenado la publicación de libros e investigaciones científicas. Además, la reciente preocupación de muchos investigadores por la adicción al ejercicio y sus consecuencias para la salud aumentan la importancia de investigar si estas variables (tecnología, adicción al ejercicio y salud) podrían estar relacionadas de algún modo. Por ello, el objetivo del presente estudio fue investigar si existe o no una asociación entre el uso de dispositivos fitness, la adicción al ejercicio y la ansiedad-rasgo. Para llevar a cabo el presente estudio se analizó una muestra de 102 usuarios de centros deportivos con una media de 30 años de edad, a los cuales se les proporcionó cuestionarios para evaluar el uso de las tecnologías, la adicción al ejercicio (Exercise Addiction Inventory) y el nivel de ansiedad-rasgo (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). Los resultados mostraron que la mayoría de los sujetos de centros fitness empleaban tecnologías durante sus entrenamientos, siendo mayor el porcentaje de hombres que hacían uso de ellas que de hombres. También se hallaron interesantes correlaciones entre la edad y la adicción al ejercicio físico, así como entre ansiedad-rasgo y adicción al ejercicio físico. Con respecto a qué dispositivos son los más utilizados, los wearables y las apps móviles obtuvieron el mayor porcentaje. No obstante, se hacen necesarias más investigaciones experimentales con muestras más amplias que evalúen un mayor rango de variables asociadas a la salud. Abstract. Recently, the growth of technology and its prominent importance in the world of fitness have triggered the publication of several books and research papers. Moreover, there are a strong concern about exercise addiction and its health consequences among the research community. Variables such as technology, exercise addiction and health could be related with the issue. This study aims at investigating whether there is an association between the use of fitness devices, exercise addiction and trait anxiety. The investigation analyzes a simple of 102 users of fitness centers located in Zaragoza with a mean age of 30 years old. The study uses different questionnaires in order to evaluate: i) the use of technology (own questionnaire), ii) exercise addiction (Exercise Addiction Inventory) and iii) the level of trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory). Results indicates that most of the users use technology during their training sessions, being larger the percentage of men than women. Further, interesting associations between age and exercise addiction were found, as well as, between trait anxiety and exercise addiction. In addition, the study highlights that wearables and mobile apps are the trendy devices. Nevertheless, greater range of variables associated with health calls for more experimental studies with larger samples.

Propiedades Psicométricas del Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) en una Muestra de Estudiantes Brasileños Universitarios

El objetivo de este estudio fue validar el Inventario de Adicción al Ejercicio (EAI) en el contexto brasileño. Participaron en el estudio 251 estudiantes universitarios (hombres= 132, mujeres= 119, Medad = 22.34, DT = 4.65). Los resultados mostraron un adecuado ajuste del modelo a los datos: χ2 (9, N = 251) = 17.45, p = .04; χ2/gl = 1.94; CFI = .96; IFI = .96; RMSEA = .061 (IC 90% = .01, .10); SRMR = .041. La estructura factorial se mostró invariante respecto al género. Se obtuvieron adecuados valores de consistencia interna (= .70) y estabilidad temporal (CCI= .80). Dieciséis (6.4%) participantes fueron clasificados en riesgo de adicción, 198 (78.9%) como sintomáticos y 37 (14.7%) como asintomáticos. Se obtuvieron evidencias que permiten sugerir la validez y la fiabilidad del EAI en el contexto brasileño. No obstante, investigaciones con poblaciones más diversas deberían determinar la aplicabilidad general del EAI.