Do excessive exercisers have a higher rate of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology?

Abstract

The problem of defining appropriate levels of exercise and the need to differentiate excessive exercise from healthy levels lead us to investigate the rate of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology and eating disordered behaviour in excessive exercisers. We hypothesized that excessive exercisers will score significantly higher on measures of obsessive-compulsiveness than non-excessive exercisers. Also, excessive exercisers will score significantly higher on measures of body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and perfectionism than non-excessive exercisers. Participants consisted of 172 male and female volunteers who exercise at a local fitness club. Instruments included the Demographic/Background Questionnaire, Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire (OEQ; Pasman & Thompson, 1988), Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (OCS; Gibb et al. , 1983) and three sub-scales of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2; Drive for Thinness, Body Dissatisfaction and Perfectionism; Garner, 1991). A simple regression was run between scores on the obsessive-compulsive scale and obligatory exerciser questionnaire. Findings were significant ( p < 0.001) level and support the hypothesis that excessive exercisers do rate higher on obsessive-compulsive symptomatology than non-excessive exercisers. Findings also support our hypothesis that excessive exercisers do rate higher on measures of drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction and perfectionism. Implications of the study help clarify the characteristics of excessive exercisers and further the understanding of the relationship between obsessive compulsiveness, eating disordered behaviour and excessive exercisers.