Exercise dependence: a systematic review

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to review the equivocal literature examining exercise dependence and deprivation. Method: A comprehensive literature search yielded 77 exercise dependence and 11 exercise deprivation studies, spanning 29 years (range=1970 to 1999), were reviewed. Results and conclusions: The research was characterized by three general approaches: (a) comparing exercisers to eating disorder patients, (b) comparing "excessive" to "less excessive" exercisers, and (c) comparing exercisers to nonexercisers. Study results have been inconclusive due, in part, to a lack of experimental research, inconsistent or nonexistent control groups, discrepant operational criteria for exercise dependence, and/or invalidated or inappropriate measures of exercise dependence. More systematic theory based research is required to understand the precipitating and perpetuating factors associated with exercise dependence, as well as effective treatment regimens. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.