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Exercise Addiction in Competitive Amateur Runners

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International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Correction to this article was published on 01 June 2021

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Abstract

Running has gained many devotees over recent decades, thanks to its capacity to maintain and improve health, however, the accessibility and certain characteristics of this pursuit can facilitate the appearance of some negative health consequences. Nowadays, running is one of the most popular amateur sports, but it is thought that excessive running encourages the appearance of addictive behaviours and other health problems. The aim of this study was to analyse the risk of exercise addiction amongst runners, investigating the influence of variables like age, sex, distance, and performance. The Spanish version of the Running Addiction Scale (RAS-8) was administrated to a sample composed of 513 Spanish amateur long-distance runners, between the ages of 18 and 64. Overall, results showed that competitive amateur runners in our sample had a low risk of addiction, although age, level of performance, and training variables such as the average number of kilometres run per week, length of training sessions, and number of training days per week were statistically significant risk factors. It is hoped that this research will help the development of more efficient strategies to prevent and control addictive behaviours amongst amateur runners.

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Correspondence to Abel Nogueira López.

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López, A.N., Salguero, A., Molinero, O. et al. Exercise Addiction in Competitive Amateur Runners. Int J Ment Health Addiction 20, 2134–2150 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00504-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00504-3

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