MEASUREMENT OF EXERCISE DEPENDENCE IN BODYBUILDERS

Objective. The purpose of this study was to explore exercise dependenc e in bodybuilders, and undertake preliminary validation of a measureme nt instrument. Experimental design, A comparative analysis of self-rep ort indices between groups. Participants. Forty-seven bodybuilders, 31 individuals who weight trained for general fitness purposes and 24 we ightlifters participated in the study. Measures, Each subject complete d the following: demographic information, bodybuilding-specific versio ns of the social identity and exclusivity scales of the Athletic Ident ity Measurement Scale, the physical strength and body attractiveness s ubscales of the Physical Self-Perception Profile, a short form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a 9-item Bodybuilding De pendence Scale. Results, Factor analysis on the BDS revealed 3 subscal es (social dependency, training dependency and mastery) which accounte d for 68.4% of the variance. Internal consistency was satisfactory for each subscale (Chronbach's alpha=0.76, 0.75 and 0.78 respectively). T he BDS social dependency and PSPP body attractiveness scores of the bo dybuilders mere higher than those of the weightlifters, whose scores w ere higher than those of the fitness trainers. The bodybuilders scored higher on both AIMS subscales than the other groups, The bodybuilders and weightlifters scored higher on PSPP physical strength than the fi tness trainers, BDS social dependency correlated with both AIMS and bo th PSPP subscales, and BDS training dependency correlated with AIMS ex clusivity, All three BDS subscales correlated with training frequency. Discriminant analysis found the combination of AIMS social identity, BDS social dependency and years training experience enabled correct cl assification of 92% of the respondents. Conclusions. These results sup port the construct and concurrent validity of the BDS social dependenc y subscale, but do not wholly support the validity of the other two su bscales.