Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?

Background: Scholastic works suggest that those at risk for exercise addiction are also often addicted to illicit drugs, nicotine, and/or alcohol, but empirical evidence is lacking. Aims: The aim of the present work was to examine the co-occurrence of illicit drug, nicotine, and alcohol use frequenc...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Attila Szabo, Mark D. Griffiths, Rikke Aarhus Høglid, Zsolt Demetrovics
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2018-06-01
Series:Addictive Behaviors Reports
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217301207
_version_ 1818390964540014592
author Attila Szabo
Mark D. Griffiths
Rikke Aarhus Høglid
Zsolt Demetrovics
author_facet Attila Szabo
Mark D. Griffiths
Rikke Aarhus Høglid
Zsolt Demetrovics
author_sort Attila Szabo
collection DOAJ
description Background: Scholastic works suggest that those at risk for exercise addiction are also often addicted to illicit drugs, nicotine, and/or alcohol, but empirical evidence is lacking. Aims: The aim of the present work was to examine the co-occurrence of illicit drug, nicotine, and alcohol use frequency (prevalence of users) and severity (level of problem in users) among exercisers classified at three levels of risk for exercise addiction: (i) asymptomatic, (ii) symptomatic, and (iii) at-risk. Methods: A sample of 538 regular exercisers were surveyed via the Qualtrics research platform. They completed the (i) Drug Use Disorder Identification Test, (ii) Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, (iii) Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, and (iv) Exercise Addition Inventory. Results: A large proportion (n=59; 10.97%) of the sample was found to be at risk for exercise addiction. The proportion of drug and alcohol users among these participants did not differ from the rest of the sample. However, the incidence of nicotine consumption was lowest among them. The severity of problematic substance use did not differ across the groups. Conclusions: These findings suggest that substance addiction and the risk for exercise addiction are unrelated. In fact, those at risk for exercise addiction exhibited the healthiest profile related to the prevalence of smoking. Keywords: Alcohol drinking, Cigarette smoking, Exercise dependence, Illicit substance use, Physical activity, Sport
first_indexed 2024-12-14T05:06:00Z
format Article
id doaj.art-fc58181291a4430d9970c7e5a1b58e88
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2352-8532
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-14T05:06:00Z
publishDate 2018-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Addictive Behaviors Reports
spelling doaj.art-fc58181291a4430d9970c7e5a1b58e882022-12-21T23:16:06ZengElsevierAddictive Behaviors Reports2352-85322018-06-0172631Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?Attila Szabo0Mark D. Griffiths1Rikke Aarhus Høglid2Zsolt Demetrovics3Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary; Institute of Health Promotion and Sport Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary; Corresponding author at: Institute of Health Promotion and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, H-1117 Budapest, Bogdánfy u. 10, Hungary.Department of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United KingdomInstitute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HungaryInstitute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, HungaryBackground: Scholastic works suggest that those at risk for exercise addiction are also often addicted to illicit drugs, nicotine, and/or alcohol, but empirical evidence is lacking. Aims: The aim of the present work was to examine the co-occurrence of illicit drug, nicotine, and alcohol use frequency (prevalence of users) and severity (level of problem in users) among exercisers classified at three levels of risk for exercise addiction: (i) asymptomatic, (ii) symptomatic, and (iii) at-risk. Methods: A sample of 538 regular exercisers were surveyed via the Qualtrics research platform. They completed the (i) Drug Use Disorder Identification Test, (ii) Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, (iii) Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, and (iv) Exercise Addition Inventory. Results: A large proportion (n=59; 10.97%) of the sample was found to be at risk for exercise addiction. The proportion of drug and alcohol users among these participants did not differ from the rest of the sample. However, the incidence of nicotine consumption was lowest among them. The severity of problematic substance use did not differ across the groups. Conclusions: These findings suggest that substance addiction and the risk for exercise addiction are unrelated. In fact, those at risk for exercise addiction exhibited the healthiest profile related to the prevalence of smoking. Keywords: Alcohol drinking, Cigarette smoking, Exercise dependence, Illicit substance use, Physical activity, Sporthttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217301207
spellingShingle Attila Szabo
Mark D. Griffiths
Rikke Aarhus Høglid
Zsolt Demetrovics
Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
Addictive Behaviors Reports
title Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
title_full Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
title_fullStr Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
title_full_unstemmed Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
title_short Drug, nicotine, and alcohol use among exercisers: Does substance addiction co-occur with exercise addiction?
title_sort drug nicotine and alcohol use among exercisers does substance addiction co occur with exercise addiction
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853217301207
work_keys_str_mv AT attilaszabo drugnicotineandalcoholuseamongexercisersdoessubstanceaddictioncooccurwithexerciseaddiction
AT markdgriffiths drugnicotineandalcoholuseamongexercisersdoessubstanceaddictioncooccurwithexerciseaddiction
AT rikkeaarhushøglid drugnicotineandalcoholuseamongexercisersdoessubstanceaddictioncooccurwithexerciseaddiction
AT zsoltdemetrovics drugnicotineandalcoholuseamongexercisersdoessubstanceaddictioncooccurwithexerciseaddiction