Author(s): JAROCH-LIDZBARSKA, M., WILCZYNSKA, D., Institution: AKADEMIA WYCHOWANIA FIZYCZNEGO I SPORTU W GDAŃSKU , Country: POLAND, Abstract-ID: 641

29th Annual ECSS Congress Glasgow/Scotland 2024, July 4-7 2024

Exercise addiction in adolescent sample
Jaroch-Lidzbarska, M., Wilczynska, D.

Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport

Introduction
Involvement in physical activity provides numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. However the immoderate exercising would have negative consequences, influencing the everyday life, and can lead to the behavioral addiction. The obligatory exercise can exist as primary (driven by motivation associated with dedicated exercise) or secondary problem (with the simultaneous co-occurrence of eating disorders). It is meaningful to check the scale of this phenomenon in the group of adolescents, with special regard to the teenagers diagnosed with eating disorders and those involved in professional sport.
Methods
Ninety individuals in the age range from 14 to 20 (one group of 45 adolescent psychiatric patients diagnosed with eating disorders and 45 teenagers training in the sports sections (15 from track and field, 15 from judo and 15 from the gymnastics section) took part in the study, conducted with an author’s online questionnaire. This was a sub-sample from an observational study. The inductive thematic analysis was applied to analyse data. The inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined and scrupulously upheld to ensure trustworthiness of the research.
Results
The leading subjects to investigate in both research groups were: emotions connected with exercises, exercise preoccupation, withdrawal symptoms, need of exercise to control the body mass and problematic eating behaviours among the competitors of each sports section.
Discussion
The findings indicated the preliminary dimension of exercise dependency in Polish adolescent sub-sample. The research process in both groups has varied due to different motivation of the examined youth and, in addition, the environment of research (the psychiatric hospital vs. the coach’s office).
The group of respondents with eating disorders demonstrated another attitude to physical activity than the group of adolescent competitors. Both the indicators of the exercise addiction and the problematic eating behaviours diversified among the test subjects from the individual sports sections.