The differences between problematic and non-problematic exercise behavior groups in terms of eating attitudes, orthorexia, body appreciation, and social appearance anxiety

The aim of this study is to investigate eating attitudes, orthorexia, body appreciation and social appearance anxiety as predictors of exercise addiction and test the differences between the problematic exercise behavior group and the non-problematic exercise behavior group. The research sample consisted of people aged 18 and over who regularly exercise at least once a week. The demographic information form, Exercise Dependence Scale-21, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), Teruel Orthorexia Scale (TOS), Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), and Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) were applied. A total of 283 people (55.8% female; 44.2% male) who exercised participated in the study. The participants were between the ages of 18-74 and the average age was 32.81 years. To test the main hypotheses of the study, independent sample t-test were conducted, which showed that the mean levels of restrained eating and orthorexia nervosa between participants with problematic exercise behaviors and participants non-problematic exercise behaviors were significantly differed. Finally, stepwise regression analysis indicated that while orthorexia nervosa positively and significantly predicted exercise addiction scores, body appreciation negatively and significantly predicted exercise addiction. In the last part of the study, research findings were discussed in relation to the literature, limitations of the study and suggestions for future research were elaborated in detail. The study findings were discussed with clinical implications in mind. Keywords: Exercise addiction, Eating attitudes, Orthorexia, Body appreciation, Social appearance anxiety