ArticleJournal of clinical sport psychology2020
Compulsive exercise or exercise dependence? Clarifying conceptualizations of exercise in the context of eating disorder pathology.
Article in Journal of clinical sport psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06213883 (Characterizing Acute Exercise Response in Restrictive Eating Disorders), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Characterizing Acute Exercise Response in Restrictive Eating Disorders
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Prevalence of Excessive Exercise in Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Pooled it
- Perfectionism and compulsive exercise: a systematic review and preliminary meta-analysis.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Pooled it
- Psychosocial etiology of maladaptive exercise and its role in eating disorders: A systematic review.The International journal of eating disorders · 2021Pooled it
- Theoretical conceptualisations of problematic exercise in psychometric assessment instruments: A systematic review.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2021Pooled it
- Eating disorders and associated mental symptoms in Swedish elite athletes and a comparison group.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Physical Activity Enjoyment and Orthorexic Eating Behaviours in Turkish Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Managing Exercise in Eating Disorder Treatment and Adapting Treatment for Athletes.The Psychiatric clinics of North America · 2026Review
- Associations between compulsive exercise and mental health constructs in eating disorders.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Next Steps in Use of the Eating Disorder Examination and Related Eating Disorder Assessments: A Call for Consensus.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Identification of Affective- and Social-Reinforcement Functions of Driven Exercise: Evidence From Three Samples.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2025Article
- Reciprocal relations between body dissatisfaction and excessive exercise in college women.Journal of American college health : J of ACH · 2024Article
- The Arabic Version of Compulsive Exercise Test among Saudi Population; Translation and Validation.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Subtypes of exercise are differentially associated with baseline eating disorder pathology and treatment outcome among individuals with bulimia nervosa.The International journal of eating disorders · 2024Article
- Validation and measurement invariance of the Compulsive Exercise Test among Brazilian and American young adults.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2024Article
- Family Functioning Styles and Exercise Addiction: Disengaged, Enmeshed, and Rigid Family Patterns Are Associated with Exercise Addiction.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
- Adaptive and Maladaptive Exercise in Eating Disorders.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2024Review
- Affective profiles of exercise episodes are associated with maladaptive and adaptive motivations for exercise.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2023Article
- Patterns of maladaptive exercise behavior from ages 14-24 in a longitudinal cohort.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2023Article
- Divergent trajectories of positive affect following maladaptive and non-maladaptive exercise among individuals with binge-spectrum eating disorders.The International journal of eating disorders · 2023Article
- Increased Incidence of Upper Extremity Soft Tissue Injuries and Orthopaedic Surgeries in Patients with Eating Disorders.The Iowa orthopaedic journal · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveMaladaptive exercise relates to eating disorder (ED) pathology and impairment in clinical and non-clinical populations. At present, two different conceptualizations of maladaptive exercise are often studied in relation to ED pathology: compulsive exercise and exercise dependence. Compulsive exercise functions to avoid negative affect (e.g., guilt and anxiety) associated with not exercising, whereas exercise dependence is associated with tolerance to exercise benefits and avoidance of exercise withdrawal. At present, clinicians and researchers struggle to determine the most appropriate term for describing problematic exercise in individuals with ED pathology. This study aimed to directly compare these conceptualizations of maladaptive exercise in relation to severity of ED pathology.
designThis study examined cross-sectional data.
methodUndergraduate participants (
resultsResults suggest that compulsive qualities of exercise, including exercise to control shape and weight and to avoid negative affect are more strongly associated with severity of ED pathology than qualities of exercise dependence.
conclusionsClinicians and researchers working with ED populations can benefit from prioritizing assessments that capture compulsive qualities of exercise. Additionally, these results suggest that interventions that effectively target other compulsive behaviors (e.g., exposure and response prevention) may be promising treatment options for problematic exercise in the context of EDs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
34093941PMC8174529W3168228713What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.