Exercise Addiction and Psychophysiological Health in Korean Collegiate Students

This study was carried out with collegiate students who took part in an exercise program for 1  year. An exercise addiction (EA) questionnaire was used to classify EA and non-EA (NEA) groups. Exercise dependence (ED), compulsive exercise (CE), and obligatory exercise (OE) questionnaires were used to validate the EA results. A total of 38 male and 37 female college students were selected as t he subjects for this study to investigate the effects of EA on psychophysiological health. The psychophysiological health variables were composed of depression, stress, body composition, and muscular joint health. This study showed that EA was significantly associated with ED (r = 0.746;P = 0.001), CE (r = 0.644;P = 0.001), and OE (r = 0.731;P = 0.001), respectively. Although there were no significant differences between EA groups and NEA groups for both males and females on depression (Z = − 0.813;P = 0.416 andZ = − 0.148;P = 0.882, respectively), physical stress (Z = − 0.777;P = 0.437 andZ = −0.074;P = 0.941, respectively), and emotional stress (Z = − 1.035;P = 0.300 andZ = − 0.573;P = 0.567, respectively), the elbow and knee joint functions of EA males were significantly higher compared with those of NEA males. However, the variables of body composition in EA females were not significantly different from those of NEA females. Being addicted to exercise for 1 year resulted i n negative effects on the psychological health in both gen...
Source: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - Category: Addiction Source Type: research