A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Relationship between Body Dissatisfaction and Morbid Exercise Behaviour

Manuel Alcaraz-Ibáñez, Adrian Paterna, Álvaro Sicilia and Mark D. Griffiths
Additional contact information
Manuel Alcaraz-Ibáñez: Health Research Centre and Department of Education, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Adrian Paterna: Health Research Centre and Department of Education, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Álvaro Sicilia: Health Research Centre and Department of Education, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Mark D. Griffiths: Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham NG1 4FQ, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Background: The present study aimed to quantify the relationship between body dissatisfaction and morbid exercise behaviour (MEB). Methods: The electronic databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, SciELO, and Dissertations & Theses Global were searched from inception to September 2020. Pooled effect sizes corrected for sampling errors ( r + ) were computed using a bare-bones meta-analysis. The robustness of the results was examined by influence analyses. The presence of moderators was examined by inspection of the variance in r + attributable to sampling errors and 80% credibility intervals, followed by subgroup analysis and univariable/multivariable meta-regressions. Publication bias was examined by visual inspection of funnel plot symmetry, cumulative meta-analysis, and Egger’s test. Results: A total of 41 effect sizes from 33 studies ( n = 8747) were retrieved. Results showed a significant and near to moderate effect size ( r + = 0.267, 95% CI = 0.226 to 0.307), and this did not differ by gender, BMI, age, percentage of Whites, study quality, or MEB measure. Conversely, effect sizes were found to be stronger in published and more recently conducted studies. Conclusion: The findings indicate that body dissatisfaction is one of the likely causes underlying MEB. This suggests the need for further longitudinal research aimed at confirming the potential causal nature of this relationship.

Keywords: problematic exercise; exercise dependence; exercise addiction; body image; body shape; body dissatisfaction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/585/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/2/585/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:2:p:585-:d:478898

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().