Can motives lead athletes to suffer from exercise dependence? Risk of exercise dependence according to motives for practice.

Abstract

Although there is a clear association between physical activity, sport and good health, there are motives for practicing that can have, at the same time, a positive and negative connotation. This paper seeks to discover what motives can lead athletes to suffer exercise dependence and the levels of risk of exercise dependence according to each motive in a sample of 414 athletes. Spanish version of Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised was used for the measurement of exercise dependence. The motives of practice were measured through Spanish reduced version of Participation Motivation Questionnaire. A stepwise linear regression analysis was performed in order to investigate motives for practice that predict dependence. Kruskall-Wallis test was run with the groups of dependency risk to determine differences between the scores acquired from the scale and motives for practice. Data indicated that the model with greater explanatory power integrates release energy and status. Significant differences were found in motive of health/fitness (p = .003), status (p = .007), release energy (p = .012) and competition (p = 0.43). These results offer interesting practical applications. Practice grounds that do not predict dependency such as health, family/peers, or skill development could guide the promotion of sports participation without the risk of suffering exercise dependence. Therefore, this study responds to needs previously recommended to help better understanding of the nature of exercise dependence in general.