The Effect of Exercise Dependence and Narcissism Components on Eating Disorders in Men Bodybuilders

Abstract

Physical activity is considered a healthy behavior as lifestyle component that can prevent chronic disease and attributed to numerous psychological and physical benefits. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of exercise dependence and narcissism components on eating disorders in male bodybuilders.The study was a correlational study and the statistical population consisted of male bodybuilders in city clubs with more than one year of continuous training of at least three sessions a week. 250 male bodybuilders were selected by cluster sampling. The research tool consisted of three questionnaires: narcissistic personality, exercise dependency and eating disorders. For data analysis correlation and regression tests were performed by SPSS version 21 and p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significant. The results showed that addiction to exercise and narcissism and their components had a significant positive relationship with eating disorders (all P-values < 0.01). Regression models revealed that exercise dependence and narcissism were able to predict 46% of variance in eating disorder (p < 0.01). According to the data, nutritional behaviors can be promoted by improving narcissistic tendencies and dependency on exercise

Keywords

• bodybuilding
• exercise dependence
• eating disorders
• narcissism