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- Title
Exercise Identity: Healthy and Unhealthy Outcomes in a Population-Based Study of Young Adults.
- Authors
Karr, Trisha M.; Bauer, Katherine W.; Graham, Dan J.; Larson, Nicole; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne
- Abstract
A desire to exercise has been promoted as a positive attribute, but can there be too much of a good thing? Although exercise identity has been associated with several healthy outcomes, the extent to which having an exercise identity may also be associated with exercise compulsion and other unhealthy weight-related behaviors has not been extensively explored among the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine if exercise identity and exercise compulsion are associated with physical activity level, body dissatisfaction, weight concern, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and lifetime eating disorder diagnosis. The current study utilized data from Project EAT-III (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults) in which a population-based socio-demographically diverse sample of young adults (age range: 20-31 years) completed a survey of eating, activity, and weight-related variables. Approximately 23% of men and 16% of women reported a high exercise identity. In general, high exercise identity was associated with healthy outcomes, including low body dissatisfaction and low BMI, but also high levels of exercise compulsion. High exercise compulsion was associated with several unhealthy outcomes, including high weight concern, unhealthy weight control behaviors, and lifetime prevalence of an eating disorder. Findings suggest that high exercise identity is generally positive, whereas the associations found between high exercise compulsion and harmful outcomes suggest that there can be too much of a good thing.
- Subjects
MINNESOTA; EXERCISE &; psychology; ATTITUDE (Psychology); BODY image; REGULATION of body weight; CHI-squared test; COMPULSIVE behavior; EATING disorders; GROUP identity; HEALTH behavior; LONGITUDINAL method; HEALTH outcome assessment; QUESTIONNAIRES; RESEARCH funding; BODY mass index; CROSS-sectional method; PHYSICAL activity; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Journal of Sport Behavior, 2014, Vol 37, Issue 2, p134
- ISSN
0162-7341
- Publication type
Article