Low Self-Esteem May Link Distress and Compulsive Exercise

Exercise can support body and mind. But when movement turns compulsive, it may become a problem. Researchers call this pattern exercise addiction, or EA. It can lead to unhealthy behavior. Even so, EA still has no official clinical diagnostic criteria, despite being covered in more than 1,000 empirical studies.

A recent cross-sectional study looked at this issue in 350 Italian adults. The group was 62% female, with an average age of 34.17 years and a standard deviation of 11.06. The researchers used validated tools to measure exercise addiction, psychological distress, and self-esteem. They then used mediation analysis with structural equation modeling.

The findings pointed to self-esteem as an important link. Psychological distress was strongly connected with lower self-esteem. Lower self-esteem, in turn, was linked to higher exercise addiction scores. The model suggested full mediation, meaning the direct link between distress and EA was not statistically significant once self-esteem was included.

The study also found some group differences. Men reported higher EA scores than women. Age did not show a significant association. The results suggest that self-esteem should be taken seriously in prevention and treatment efforts, because it may help explain why psychological distress and compulsive exercise are connected.