Dimensions of passion and their relationship to the risk of exercise addiction: Cultural and gender differences

Attila Szabo; Ricardo de la Vega; Rita Kovácsik; Lucia Jiménez Almendros; Roberto Ruíz-Barquín; Zsolt Demetrovics; Szilvia Boros; Ferenc Köteles

doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100451

Dimensions of passion and their relationship to the risk of exercise addiction: Cultural and gender differences

Addict Behav Rep. 2022 Aug 30:16:100451. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100451. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Authors

Attila Szabo^{1

2}, Ricardo de la Vega³, Rita Kovácsik¹, Lucia Jiménez Almendros³, Roberto Ruíz-Barquín⁴, Zsolt Demetrovics^{2

5}, Szilvia Boros¹, Ferenc Köteles¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
² Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
³ Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Movement, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming, University of Gibraltar, Gibraltar, Gibraltar.

Abstract

This study was performed to investigate further the two-dimensional aspect of passion and its relationship to the risk of exercise addiction (REA) in nine nations and to clarify the unresolved gender differences. The here reported results stem from the reanalysis of data gathered in three previous empirical studies. The analyses demonstrated that harmonious (HP) and obsessive (OP) passion are two independent, non-interacting predictors of the REA, the prevalence of which was 12.1 % in the current sample that included 1448 people (age = 30.49 ± SD = 11.17 years; 55 % men), who exercised at least three hours per week. Furthermore, the results show that HP and OP could co-exist as a single 'total' or 'true' passion within the individual or in high-low HP and OP proportions, supporting the proposal for one, two-dimensional passion. Indeed, most people at REA demonstrated both high HP and high OP. The weekly amount of exercise was weakly associated with the two dimensions of passion. Relatively specific cultural differences in the REA and OP, but not HP, have emerged. The results also demonstrate that when a minimal weekly volume of training (i.e., 3 h) is a criterion for participant recruitment, no gender differences occur in the REA.

Keywords: Commitment; Dependence; EAI, Exercise Addiction Inventory; Fitness; HP, Harmonious Passion; Harmonious passion; OP, Obsessive Passion; Obsessive passion; PS, Passion Scale; REA, Risk of Exercise Addiction.