Too Much of a Good Thing? Exercise Dependence in Endurance Athletes: Relationships with Personal and Social Resources

Zsuzsanna Zimanyi, Wanja Wolff and Julia Schüler
Additional contact information
Zsuzsanna Zimanyi: Department of Sport Science, Sport Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Wanja Wolff: Department of Sport Science, Sport Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
Julia Schüler: Department of Sport Science, Sport Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: (1) Background: A large body of research has examined the positive effects of physical activity on physical and mental health. However, for some, excessive exercise can develop into an addiction that is detrimental to their health. In the present study, we examine potential personal (self-control, self-concordance) and social (social support) resources that we assume to be related to exercise dependence. (2) Methods: One hundred and forty athletes from different endurance sports participated in an online survey. Exercise dependence, self-control, self-concordance, and social support were assessed using questionnaires that are well-established in health and sport psychology. Additionally, further sport-relevant and demographic variables were assessed. (3) Results: Correlational analyses supported our hypotheses that exercise dependence is negatively correlated with the personal resources trait, state self-control, and self-concordance. Social support, however, was not significantly correlated with exercise dependence. Furthermore, the results of a mediation analysis revealed that the relationship between both personal traits (self-control, self-concordance) and exercise dependence was mediated by state self-control. (4) Conclusions: Our results indicate that trait self-control and self-concordance might be important personal resources that protect against exercise dependence by making state self-control available.

Keywords: exercise dependence; endurance sports; self-control; self-concordance; social support (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2966/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/6/2966/ (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:6:p:2966-:d:516655

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 ().